Chasing Goldilocks
by Getitback
Summary: What if the proposal wasn't completely out of left field? What happened in the 6 month months we weren't shown between 'One Step Too Many' and 'Red Team III?
1. Chapter 1

_**Introductory note:** We don't see pretty much anything from what happens between when Will dumps Nina and is given the Goldilocks planet lecture from Sloan up to the final red team meeting in September. Sloan lectures him and then we don't really see him until the next episode which is 6 months later! Gah! How did he react? And did anyone else notice Will is being maybe oddly flirty with Mac? "Someone would be have to be torturing you" in order for him to admit who his source is or "you are the most beautiful person I've ever seen in real life" and in the meeting about Sweeney's TBI the two of them are sitting closer than normal...not too mention the first episode of the season with him sitting in the hall during her deposition prep! _

_Of course they aren't together (after the Sweeney interview they are shown at their separate apartments) but maybe...just maybe...that proposal wasn't so completely out of left field as it seemed..._

_This starts the night after Will dumped Nina._

* * *

Mac walked in to Hang Chews, her stride stuttering when she recognized a familiar figure sitting at the corner of the bar nursing a whiskey.

She glanced to the side, looking for the rest of the staff. It was still only 10:20 so it would be an hour before Don or Sloan arrived and although Neil, Tamara, Gary, Tess and Martin were in their customary booth Jim was no where to be seen.

Mac weighed her options before taking a breath and situating herself on the stool next to Will and ordering her drink.

He tipped his glass in silent greeting.

"It's been a while since you've come out after the show." She observed, her insatiable curiosity winning over her brain's instincts to not mention that he was alone at a bar on a Friday night when he had steady girlfriend.

He responded with a shrug, not moving his focus from the television set where Elliot was recapping the day's events.

Mackenzie took a sip of her drink, eyes roving around the bar, trying to not be discomforted by the quiet. Despite her inner voice demanding she just enjoy her drink in quiet it was not long before she surrendered to her own need to break the silence . "Is Nina going to be okay with you sharing a late night drink with your ex-girlfriend or should I go sit with the rest of the staff?"

She mentally kicked herself as soon as the words fell out of her mouth. She tried to keep her regret from showing, even as she watched Will tense.

He glanced over at her, eyes sweeping across her face, "I prefer to think I'm sharing a post-work drink with my EP as opposed to a late night drink with my ex-girlfriend." His tone was soft but pointed.

Mac nodded. "Of course."

They were quiet for a minute until Mackenzie couldn't help but stick her foot in her mouth again, "So is Nina out of town?"

Will rolled his eyes, keeping his attention in front of him.

Mac shook her head, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't..."

"I broke up with her." He interrupted.

Mackenzie blinked, "What?"

Will looked at her and smirked, "Nina. I broke up with her."

"Okay..." Mackenzie immediately felt torn between her compassion for Will as a friend going through a break up, her excitement at the break up, and her morbid curiosity as to the _why_ of the break up.

Despite the fact that Mac was pretty sure Nina was the first girlfriend of any length or significance that Will had had in the past 5 years he did not seem to be upset about it at all.

In fact she could swear there was actually a ghost of a smile on his lips as he explained. "It needed to happen. Honestly never should have been with her to begin with."

"Still, break ups suck." Mackenzie offered in friendly commiseration.

"Some more than others." Will responded automatically, glancing at Mackenzie briefly before swiftly returning his eyes to his drink. "This was not one of those." He tossed back what was left in his glass.

Mackenzie let the silence sit for a moment, forcing herself not to react to the subtext of his comment. Instead she cleared her throat and asked, "When?"

He shrugged, "Yesterday morning. After the morning show fiasco."

Mac nodded, "Was it bad? Should I be on the look out of any tell-all articles coming out in the gossip rags?"

Will groaned and looked at Mac in askance, "God I hope not. I don't think she would but then again I guess I should think a little more carefully before abruptly dumping a gossip columnist who has written plenty of bad press about us."

"Or dating one to begin with..." Mackenzie murmured into her drink.

Will grimaced. "I deserved that. You're right. Like I said it was wrong."

She sighed, and decided to try and force herself to offer comfort as if she were speaking with anyone other than Will, "It couldn't have been all wrong; you were together for a while." She offered gently.

Will fidgeted with the coaster in front of him, "I think I was just trying to convince myself that I'm capable."

"Of being in a long term relationship?" She clarified, unable to contain a small, cheeky grin.

"Of being in a relationship with anyone but you." He mumbled, not looking up until the words were out of his mouth and he could sense Mackenzie freeze beside him.

Shock and hurt flashed across her face before she gave a sad shake of her head and shifted off the stool, "Oookay. Well. I don't know why I though we could talk about this. I'm going to head over to where the staff is sitting..."

"Wait." Will stood, blocking her ability to leave her stool. "That came out wrong. I'm sorry. Forget I said it. Sit? Please? Have another drink with me?"

Mackenzie took a deep breath and again cursed herself as she felt her resolve weaken against the power of Will's eyes earnestly locked on to hers. She nodded once without smiling and resituated herself on her bar stool.

She fiddled with the edge of her glass before glancing to Will who was watching her with barely masked trepidation.

"What did you mean by that?" She finally asked.

Will looked to her and opened his mouth to speak when the television screen caught his eye and he closed his mouth. He turned his attention up to where Sloan was doing her segment on Elliot's show. Will narrowed his eyes at the image of young anchor before taking a big sigh and mumbling a barely audible, "Alright..." to himself.

"Will?" Mackenzie pulled his attention back to her. He met her eyes, glanced back up to Sloan's face one more time before focusing entirely on Mac.

His tongue came out and wet his lips and she watched him war with himself internally before he explained, "I think that was trying to convince myself that I could be in a relationship with anyone else...but I failed. It's time for me to just admit that I'm not capable of being in a relationship with anyone other than you."

Mackenzie's eyes went wide but Will didn't give her an opportunity to speak or otherwise react, "Maybe I've always known but I'm just now accepting that fact so I'm done playing that game."

Mac's brow furrowed together and she asked the only question her brain could articulate, "What game?"

Will shrugged and glanced around the other people in the bar, "You know. The 'Let's date and pretend we're compatible' game."

Mac shook her head, "So you're saying because it didn't work out with Nina that you're swearing off dating?"

Will rolled his eyes, "No. I'm saying that because of, well, may be a little bit because of Nina, and something Sloan said, and Habib, and just because I've been thinking...whatever, it doesn't matter why. What I'm saying is that I'm not going to lie to myself that there is even a chance that I could be happy with someone who isn't you. That happens to mean no more dating because it doesn't feel fair leading people on. Not to mention, it seems kind of pointless to date when you already know that you'd be happier somewhere else."

Mackenzie pulled her mouth into a tight thin line as she relaxed back into her chair, placing her drink back on the bar and regarding Will with a long, critical look.

"What am I supposed to do with that information?"

He shrugged and turned his attention back to the bar, avoiding eye contact.

"What ever you want. **_I_ **don't know what to do with that information or how I feel about it." He glanced to her briefly, "All I can tell you is that I think that subconsciously I might have come here tonight because I was hoping you might show up." He kept his eyes focused down on where he was rolling his glass between his hands.

Mackenzie nodded slowly and mimicked him, turning to fully face the bar, digesting his words. After a moment of silence she raised her hand to grab the bar tender's attention.

"He'll be wanting another drink and I'll have another in a few minutes when I'm done with this one."

"Do you want to start a tab?"

Mackenzie glanced over to Will to see him watching her. She turned her attention back to the bartender and nodded.

"Yes, I think we're going to be here a while."


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you so much for the reviews! I am glad you think it is an interesting idea. I've gone back and watched some episodes again and there is just more and more that makes me wonder (some of their interactions through out Red Team III and how quickly their argument in Election Night turns personal as opposed to about work...as if maybe they were just picking up from a previous argument?) I hope to keep you guys interested and enjoying the story. It is all drafted but still a WIP so if you have good ideas I might have to drop them into future chapters! There will be some angst because how can you avoid it with these two? But it will not be for another few chapters until we get closer to the Fall._

* * *

And that was that.

For the next hour they talked about the show and the staff. It had been nice. Since Will had begun seeing Nina more regularly he and Mac had not spent much time together outside of work and with the growth of the Genoa investigation Mackenzie's time at work had been in even more demand than normal. As a result she suddenly realized that she and Will had barely had a decent one on one conversation since before the holidays.

As she tried to contain her laughter and chastise him for a snide observation about Neil versus Sloan in a competition of geekdom she found herself wondering if it was possible to miss someone you saw almost every day. Because that's what it felt like, as if she was only just now seeing him again after a long time apart. She had missed him and even if she wasn't at all sure what he was trying to say earlier, she was just thankful for the easy conversation between them now.

Shortly after 11 Don and Sloan joined them and all were pleasantly surprised that, instead of making his departure, Will had followed when Sloan had suggested moving to consolidate their conversation with the rest of the staff.

Mac had gone home after 2 and found it difficult to fall asleep, eventually nodding off to a late night black and white movie on the television.

* * *

The weekend and most of the following week passed without any discernible difference from Will. Maybe he was coming in a little earlier? Maybe he was lingering a little later at the end of the show? Or maybe that was just a return to his normal 'pre-Nina' habits.

Mac didn't have much time to give it much thought as she prepped for and went through what seemed would be the final Red Team meeting. She knew Jerry was frustrated but she was honestly happy to have it off her plate. If Charlie wasn't 100% sold, neither was she and she was happier not having to weigh the risks and merits of airing the story.

Everything seemed so normal and her relief at finally being done with Genoa was so great that Mackenzie was almost able to forget about Will's admission at the bar.

That is, until Wednesday at 11:55 at night when her phone rang with Will's name appearing on the screen. She hesitated before picking up the phone; late night phone calls from Will were not unheard of, in fact they had been common place until the past 6 months when Will began seeing Nina. Seeing his name on the screen again revived the feeling from Friday night that she had been missing him without even realizing it.

She bit her lip and picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"How are we going to balance our coverage of Trayvon Martin?" He launched without preamble.

"How do you mean?" Mackenzie leaned back against her headboard.

She could hear the wind in the background and could imagine Will standing or maybe pacing on his balcony looking over the city. "I mean at what point is this a relevant news story which is a window to a greater national debate about race and gun control versus just another sensationalized dead teenager?"

Mackenzie bit her lip, "Do you think we've been covering it too much?"

"Not necessarily." he took a long pause, "But if we want to continue to talk about it I wonder if we should start thinking of more constructive ways to frame the conversation."

Mac nodded "That's a good point. Tomorrow let's pull in Martin and Kendra and assign them to start investigating relevant angles." She reached over to her nightstand and scribbled a reminder on her notepad.

"Good. Good, that'll be a good place to start." Will was murmured, seemingly satisfied.

With the issue resolved she waited for him to say goodnight but after a long moment and he remained quiet she felt compelled to fill the void.

"Was there something else?"

She heard him shuffle and the open and close of the sliding door, "No. Not really."

"Not really?" She asked, eyebrows climbing her forehead in disbelief.

"I was going to ask if you were going to Hang Chews tomorrow night but then I realized it wasn't worth asking because you probably won't decide until after the broadcast anyway." He explained all too casually.

Mackenzie bit her lip, smiling slightly, "Actually I already know that I won't be. I'm going to a screening of some documentary at Columbia with Sloan."

"Oh, yeah. Of course. I think she actually mentioned that, isn't that the thing she set up for her Intro to Econ undergrad class? Try not to have too much fun with _that_." He teased.

Mac rolled her eyes, "I'm not half as bad at economics as I used to be you know."

Will chuckled, "Yeah. Okay, I look forward to your deep insights." He paused, breathing into the phone, "Well, I won't keep you any later. Good night Mac."

"Billy?" She spoke softly, hoping to interrupt him before he hung up.

"Yeah?" came the equally quiet reply.

"I'm going with Sloan tomorrow night but I'll probably go to the bar on Friday night." She explained, even though he never asked.

There was a protracted pause before Will replied warmly, "Good night Mackenzie."

He disconnected the call without acknowledging her statement but she smiled as she hung put down her phone and something in his tone told her that he probably was too.


	3. Chapter 3

Life settled into a new kind of normal.

With Genoa mothballed, Mac and the staff were able to give their full focus back to the show.

For the first time since the inception of News Night 2.0 it seemed like everything was as it should be; Jim was back and he and Maggie had seemed to settle into less overt displays of animosity to one another, the Lansings weren't threatening Will and he didn't seem to be preoccupied with the ratings or public perception and everyone seemed genuinely eager to jump on board with new segments or to dig into to some real investigative journalism.

Everything just hummed with the feeling of satisfaction at doing a job well.

Things were upbeat outside of the Newsroom as well; Will's late night phone calls slowly ramped back up until they were once again at the pre-Nina levels of 4-7 times a week. Ostensibly he always called about work or some epiphany or observation he had made but at least once a week he would work into the conversation an opportunity to ask if she planned to be going out at all after the broadcast.

They didn't always meet up each time he asked but it wasn't long before every Friday they would find each other at Hang Chews. Sometimes they would sit with the staff, other times by themselves at the bar, occasionally joined by Sloan or Jim or Don.

It wasn't long before Fridays morphed into meeting after the show two or three times a week, professedly meeting in person over alcohol made more sense then Will interrupting her evening by phone. However, the greater frequency they met at the bar did not at all decrease the amount of phone calls at what one would call inappropriate hours. The only difference was that by the end of May Will simply stopped asking when she was planning on being out and they were meeting nearly nightly and sitting with the rest of the staff less frequently.

Mac had a hard time imagining a time when she felt so pleased with each corner of her life. Yes, she hadn't had a love life in longer than a woman would care to admit but somehow it didn't seem important. She didn't want to think about if it had anything to do with Will's weird pledge of _celibacy? faithfulness? constant frustration?_ to her back in March. Instead she focused on her amazing friendships outside of the office and the air of efficient excellence in the office.

Which was why she was initially startled when Will walked into her office unannounced and declared that he believed they needed a daily meeting with one another.

"To be on the same page here. You know about management stuff. Or strategy, or content." He explained. "You and I are running this ship and to do it right we really should do what we can to be as in sync as possible."

"To do it right?" She balked, leaning away from her desk and crossing her arms, "Where is this coming from? I thought that everything had been going pretty well these last couple of months. What do you think we're not doing right?"

He shook his head, pushing his lips together, "Nothing. I think we're doing a lot of things very right. But there is always room to be be better, right? I just think a regularly set meeting between the two of us, without worrying about the perspectives and opinions of everyone else, could be beneficial. You know, for the show. Managerial communication is one of corporate's favorite buzzwords."

She rolled her eyes, "Since when have you even read those corporate memo's, never mind cared about what they said?"

"Hey, I read them!" He defended, "Maybe it's just after Charlie prints it out and physical puts it on my desk, but I read them."

She couldn't help but smile. Far too familiar was the sight of Charlie grumping about what was the value of email if you had to print something out to make sure Will actually read it.

"Will, it's not that it's a bad idea, but you don't think you and I don't communicate enough? Between rundown meetings, the broadcast, the bar, phone calls and random conversations in the hallway, the newsroom and offices we probably communicate more with each other than anyone else." She sighed, uncrossing her arms and letting her hands fall to her thighs as she sat back, trying not to feel exhausted trying to determine what whatever ulterior mission Will was on.

Because he certainly was on some mission, as he nodded in agreement but quickly rebuffed her, "Yes, but those are all necessary for the current course of business. There is no time that we can ever sit and talk abstractly about what we're trying to do here." She narrowed her eyes but decided against pointing out that their nightly rendezvous at a Karaoke bar could hardly qualify as 'necessary for the current course of business.' She leaned forward, letting him continue.

He gestured absently to the closed door of her office, "What about the staff? We're their managers but we only really talk about them when we're forced to do performance reviews or if there is a problem. Gary is chomping at the bit to get out in the field more, Neil wants to cultivate more stories, Tamara has been coming in late an awful lot and I'm not entirely convinced that Maggie is okay since Africa. I'm just saying it would be good to talk about these things before problems arise or just so we can work on how to be supportive in continuing to develop the individuals on this team."

Mac sighed and looked down. He had to have known he'd get to her by bringing the staff into the conversation. Maggie especially; Mac still felt a pull of guilt at what the young woman had experienced and she agreed with Will, she did not think Maggie was handling it as well as she was trying to project.

She looked up to where Will was leaning on the short filing cabinet across from her desk, "Okay." She relented, narrowing her eyes to a glare when she saw a triumphant smirk settle on her face, "I concede you have a point. But everyday? Can't it be once a month or once a week? I'm not exactly struggling to fill my time and I come in 2 and a half hours early every day as it is."

Will shrugged, "Well I think if we think it is important we should make the time."

She closed her eyes and took a breath trying to remind herself why she could not throw her stapler at his head. She opened her eyes and looked at him in exasperation, "As much as I wish that were true, I don't believe it is. I agree that it is important, you know I take nothing more serious than I do the staff but that doesn't mean the time is there. I'm not...Gandalf...I can't just add time to the day!"

Will froze and blinked dumbly at her in surprise, "Gandalf?"

She shrugged self-consciously, "I might have been sitting a little too close to Neil and Jim last night. Apparently The Hobbit is going to be a film."

Will nodded, "Yeah. Peter Jackson is doing it. How he is stretching it into 3 movies is beyond me."

"Well it's not beyond Jim or Neil, they're very excited..." She stopped, "Wait a minute..." she pointed emphatically at him.

He held up his hands in self defense, "Hey! Tolkien is a good read and Jackson did good stuff with the other movies. Doesn't make me a nerd. Don't even think of lumping me in with those two."

She smiled smugly, "I don't know. Let's call in Neil and see if we can get a conversation going about goblins and trolls." at Will's huff she smirked, "Or I could let slip to Jim about your comic book collection."

Will rolled his eyes, "From when I was twelve! I don't even know what's in that box anymore." He waved his hands in front his face, "Can we _please_ get back to the original point?"

"Right. You trying to crow bar one more thing in to my day." she tapped her date book for effect.

He shrugged, "Hey, I know you're busy. I am too. But like I said, I think this is a worthwhile thing to try and do more regularly than a once a week meeting that we willl both forget about."

"And I'm asking you how exactly do you suggest we do that?" Mac asked, leaning forward, her forearms resting on the desk.

Will paused, squinting in thought, "We multi-task. Lunch."

"What?" Mackenzie glared at him, confused.

"You already have to set aside time to have lunch each day as do I." He explained slowly, as if waiting for her to interrupt with an argument, "If we have lunch together then we have a forum where we can catch each other up on anything that needs to be discussed. If there are no issues then at least we both will remember to eat." He smirked in satisfaction at his solution.

She leaned back again, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes, "You want us to schedule lunch together everyday on the off chance there are problems we need to discuss and if there are no problems then we would have this lunch meeting anyway?"

"How would we know there are no problems until we sit down with each other and hear what the other has to say?" He explained with open palms.

"So we should have lunch together each day?" She repeated again.

He shrugged and looked down, rearranged the items next to him on the filing cabinet. "Look if it's really that inconvenient or bad idea then we don't need to, of course. I just thought it would be good for us; you know, the show. I didn't think it would be a bad thing."

She watched him fidget and processed his words. Suddenly, she suspected she understood what his ulterior motive might be. She hardly allowed herself to believe it but just the thought that he was simply trying to manipulate an excuse to have lunch with her sent butterflies straight to her stomach.

She finally relaxed her shoulders and tried to force the smile from spreading across her face. "We're not going to that falafal stand every day." She managed to get out relatively sternly.

Her tone seemed to have little effect on him judging by the speed with which he looked up or the intensity of his grin, "We can take turns picking."

She nodded, "I think it sounds like a lovely plan."

When he left the office she happily picked up her day planner and penned in "_Will_" in place of "_lunch_" each day.


	4. Chapter 4

Their daily lunch meetings quickly became Mackenzie's second favorite part of her days and as much as she was loathe to admit it, Will's rationale for setting up the meetings had proved valid.

They would start each day by discussing the evening's show and hone in on a tone and direction. As a result, the broadcast was becoming more cohesive and Will's scripts were becoming snappier.

They would frequently also chat about the newsroom in general. They had drastically different vantage points and by comparing notes on what would otherwise be insignificant observations they were able to identify and head off a number of small problems.

Inevitably their staff discussions would devolve into gossip. Will would roll his eyes and act like he wasn't interested but despite his adamant stance against gossip he couldn't seem to help but share his own observations about Sloan and Don's thinly veiled interest in one another or that Neal had yet another new girlfriend.

More often than not their conversations would take wide circuitous routes sometimes never returning to the topic of the Newsnight at all and instead they would spend the hour swapping stories regarding each other's family, personal politics, movies or the latest odd thing seen on the sidewalks of New York.

"So I'm just trying to walk around this lady like everyone else when she turns around and grabs my shoulder and starts sobbing." Mackenzie was animatedly sharing one Friday afternoon in the middle of June.

They had each brought lunch and were taking advantage of the beautiful weather by eating out on the terrace. The staff had quickly self imposed a "no interruptions" rule during Will and Mac's lunch meetings but they still tried to avoid eating in their offices as much as possible and the terrace had quickly become their most frequent lunch location.

Will was leaning back, a smirk on his face.

"What?" She glared at him over her eggplant sandwich.

He shrugged and continued to look smug, "Nothing. I just know where this is going. Anyone else would have shaken off the crazy lady and just kept walking but not you. You stayed and listened to her whole life story, didn't you?"

Mackenzie put down her sandwich while gesturing emphatically, "Was I suppose to just leave her there? Crying and alone in the middle of central park? She literally reached out to me Will!"

Will's smirk softened into something considerably less smug, "Yes. Of course." He picked up his water, motioning for her to continue, "So what happened next? What was her story?"

Mackenzie waved her hand, "Oh she was a complete whack job. Kept explaining to me how she was the deposed Queen of Russia and that the she's trying to get the US Army to hire her so she can go to Afghanistan because she's able to mentally communicate with enemies of the US and could get them to lay down their arms."

Will raised his eyebrows, "Hey, if she wants to go I say what's the harm in trying? Let's ship her out today."

Mackenzie ignored him as she picked up her sandwich again, "I got the attention of an officer who helped me disentangle myself from the situation but the reality is that the woman needs psychological help but probably isn't going to get it."

Will straightened, "Is this your way of telling me you want to do a segment on mental health?"

Mac took a bite of her sandwich and tilted her head, thinking. She took a sip of water and cleared her throat, "I want to do something, I'm just not sure what. I don't know if it's mental health and the homeless or if it is more of a municipal angle."

Will nodded, "Kendra mentioned wanting to expand the definition of women's issues and has been building contacts at some of the city clinics. We could see if she'd be interested in the assignment and building the story."

Mac winced, "I don't want it to be confused with the women's issues story. I was thinking maybe Neal might be good to start pulling this apart."

Will rubbed at his chin, "Neal?"

"He wants to be a part of putting the news together." Mac shrugged. "He hasn't pitched anything in a while, I think he's felt defeated since OWS. I'd like to give him this. I think he could be excited about it."

Will nodded, a small, affectionate smile on his lips.

"What?" Mackenzie asked, pausing to try and decipher what he was thinking before taking another bite.

He just nodded, "You're right."

She smiled broadly, "I'm sorry. Can you say that again? I didn't have my recorder running."

Will rolled his eyes "You didn't let me finish. I was going to say, that you're right, Neal will enjoy it BUT..."

Mac dropped her shoulders and glared at Will from across the small table.

He held up his hands defensively, "BUT Neal is not a producer. He's tried but hasn't really been able to put something together. If you really care about the idea and care about Neal not feeling defeated, I'd suggest pairing him up with someone and make it a joint assignment. Maybe Maggie or Gary?"

Mackenzie's eyes narrowed in thought as she finished her sandwich, "It should be Gary." She conceded, "This could get depressing and I don't want to put Maggie on that yet."

Will nodded in agreement, "Good thought."

They continued on their lunches for a while in quiet until Will shifted in his chair and cleared his throat, "So, What are you doing this weekend?"

Mackenzie looked up. It wasn't an out of place question, they often talked about their weekend plans but Will didn't fidget unless something was on his mind and he was definitely fidgeting.

"Umm," She thought out loud, "Nothing exciting. I have to stock up on groceries so I was thinking of heading out of the city to a real grocery store somewhere. My mother sent me a new book I'm supposed to read which I haven't yet started so I might do that." She looked to Will, "What are you doing?"

His fingers picked at the edge of his napkin, "I have a couple of tickets to the matinee of Book of Mormon tomorrow."

"Oh." Mackenzie wasn't sure how to react and directed her focus to sweeping the crumbs off the table top.

"Would you like to come with me?" Will asked casually.

Mackenzie's head shot up and she froze, catching the anxiety in Will's eyes before he blinked and it was well hidden.

Will shifted in his seat again, "I mean it was just a thought if you don't really have much else going on. It's just a matinee and it's Book of Mormon, not like the Met or anything. You wouldn't even have to get dressed up, if you want to go at all. I just thought it could be fun and..."

Mackenzie reached across the table and stilled Will's hands. "Billy," She smiled gently up at him, effectively cutting him off. "Of course I would like to go."

"Yeah?" A hesitant smile played upon his lips.

She nodded, "Of course. It will be fun."

She watched as he tried to contain his pleasure. He cleared his throat and nodded, but the smile never truly left his face, "Good, okay. Like I said, it's a matinee so it's at 3. I can meet you at your place around 1:30." He paused, "Or earlier? We could grab lunch at that place across from your building and then walk up?"

Mac nodded, "That sounds like a good plan, as I mentioned, I have no groceries so eating out is really my only option for the moment." She explained lightly. "Where'd you get the tickets?"

"I bought them." Will gestured with an empty hand,

Mac raised her eyebrows, "I heard they were a hard get."

Will looked down, "Well, I actually bought them a while ago."

"Oh." Mackenzie tried not to let her disappointment show, putting on a forced smile, "Your date cancel on you?"

Will's eyebrows knitted together, "Not unless you're canceling on me now."

"No, I meant who were you going with before now?" Mackenzie could kick herself for pushing but if he had intended on going with someone other than herself she wanted to know so she could stop getting her hopes up about whatever it was they had been doing the last few months.

"I wasn't going with anyone." He shook his head.

She tilted her head, not following, "So why did you buy two tickets?"

Will rolled his lips between his teeth and glared at her as if she were being purposefully dense, "Because I wanted you to come with me."

Mackenzie couldn't contain her smile as her brain struggled to catch up and analyze what that meant.

"But you're just asking me now, 24 hours before the show." She finally managed to point out.

"Yes." Will sighed and rolled his eyes.

"And you bought the tickets a couple of weeks ago?"

"Mac!" He snapped in exasperation.

She pushed back, "I'm sorry Will, but can you at least understand my confusion?"

He ran his hands across his face before dropping them to peer at her in calculated thought. He took a deep breath and picked up her hands where they still lay on the table.

"Mac. Stop thinking so hard. I want you to come to a show with me. I think it would be fun and we could have a good day together. I've been thinking about it for a while and bought the tickets on a whim a month ago but I needed sometime to work my way up to asking. That's it. I never once even considered asking anyone else. I want to spend the day with you."

Mac took a steadying breath hoping that her heart wasn't about to beat right out of her chest. Pleased, she smiled at him gave his hands a quick squeeze, "Why did you need to work your way up to it? Did you think I would possibly say no?"

He shrugged.

Her smile faltered at the realization that he really did think she might actually turn him down,"Billy..."

He shrugged again, "It wasn't just that. I just...I'm still..." he trailed off, looking away.

"How could you think I wouldn't want to go with you?" Mackenzie asked, almost more to herself than to him. Hadn't she made it clear from practically day 1 that she was still in love with him and would go to the ends of the earth for him?

...

Except, _she hadn't_. She felt her face go slack as she quickly skimmed over the past 2 years.

On her first day she told him she came back because she just wanted to be in a newsroom again. Of course she couldn't mention then that she also had given up on ever being able to move on with her life. That somewhere in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan she realized she would never be able to run far enough away to numb the pain of not being near him.

Later that first week she had told him she had fallen in love with him when she had 'reconciled' with Brian but she had framed everything in the past tense.

And while he was off dating girl after girl and she was shooting barbs at him for revenge sex, she was the first to dive into what could be perceived as a serious, long term relationship. Hell, in that horrid fight about the tabloids, desperate to protect herself from the pain she had even shouted at him that she had moved on.

And despite everything that had happened since, despite the valentines day hug and the Bin Laden broadcast and the days in the hospital and showing him the notepad she had never actually done or said anything to make sure he knew. During their quiet meetings about shared concern for Maggie, the night his father died, the night at the bar when he said he was unable to be happy with anyone but her she never actually said it back.. She always assumed that he would just know. He always just knew everything else...

How could he not know this?

This one, very big, important thing. How could this be the one thing he didn't just innately know?

And she closed her eyes because she knew. She knew that thanks to an abusive father and a cheating love of his life the one thing the very smart man across from her didn't truly understand was that he was lovable. All evidence had pointed to the contrary. She bit her lip, holding in a cry at the role she had played in reinforcing that particular belief.

She opened her eyes and looked intently at Will, silently begging him to understand. He began to pull back but Mackenzie held tightly to his hands. He stared down at them before looking back up to her in confusion.

She let out a quick breath of resolve, "You listen to me Will. You laid it all out on the table back in March and I didn't respond because I wasn't sure what it was you were trying to say, I still am not sure what that all meant but it's my turn now. I didn't say anything then because I wasn't about to open my mouth just to have you regret it all the next day or week. I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I should have."

Will shook his head, "Mac, I..."

She squeezed his hands again, silencing him with her own quick shake of the head, "Will. I absolutely treasure each moment we get to spend together. Even if it's just at work and even if you are driving me up a bloody wall. If I have a spare hour and I get to spend it near you, I consider it time well spent. Don't doubt that I will ever say yes, okay? Because, the truth of it is..."

She paused, locking eyes with him and considering her next words closely, "I've never moved on Will. I've tried because I thought it was the only option available to me and because I thought it was what was best for you and because it was supposedly the healthy or responsible thing to do. But I haven't Will. Never have and I don't think I ever will."

His eyes were wide and she leaned closer, "I know it's more complicated for you and I'm sorry about that because I know it's my own bloody fault. Whatever it is you're trying to do, whatever you're working through and whatever end goal you have in mind or even if you don't know, I'm okay with that and I'll be patient until you figure it out. I'm more than okay, I'm thankful for because given the alternatives I will gladly take sitting quietly with you at a bar or discussing our employees over lunch and an occasional casual Saturday matinee. I love spending time with you Will."

There. She hadn't exactly said she loved him but she did say she never moved on and that she loved spending time with him, that should be enough. She didn't want to completely scare him if he wasn't ready.

She peered at him, watching the carefully concealed emotions flit through his eyes as he fought internally for a reaction.

Finally, he settled on a small, genuine smile and nod. He relaxed his shoulders and shifted her grasp so he was holding her hands in his. "That's good to know." He spoke evenly.

Mac shrugged, "It was over due. I'm sorry."

He tilted his head, waving away her apology. He looked down at their intertwined hands and then focused his eyes back on her face. He just stared at her with those blue eyes and she couldn't help the feeling that he was looking straight into her and reading her thoughts as clearly as a teleprompter.

After a long time he gave a small nod. "Okay."

She nodded in response although she was mostly certain he was really only speaking to himself.

He let go of her hands and leaned back, his facade clicking into place so easily that she wouldn't have noticed a difference if she wasn't still locked on his eyes.

"I suppose we should get back to work before the subjects get restless." He stood, gathering the trash from his sandwich.

Mac smirked, "I suppose so. Though I wouldn't worry about them, I suspect they are actually pleased to have us out of their hair an hour a day." She took a dramatic pause as if she were thinking carefully, "Well, not me actually; Just you."

Will scoffed, "That's what you think princess."

Mac crossed her arms, "Hey! The staff loves me!"

Will rolled his eyes as he held open the door for her, "Yes, so sorry, they _adore_ you."

Mac nodded happily and began down the hallway, stopping when Will reached for her elbow. She spun to look up at him, "What?"

He glanced down the hall and then looked back to her, "Speaking of the staff and if you really don't have anything else going on tomorrow that you want to do and if you wouldn't mind spending another couple of hours of your weekend with me I was thinking, Jim is playing that open mic gig tomorrow night. Maybe after the show we could grab a quick dinner and then head over to The Village and cheer him on?"

Will's eyes were boring holes in her and Mac's heart did a little flip as she smiled warmly and nodded, "That sounds perfect. We'd still do lunch?"

He nodded, "You said you need to eat out anyway, right?"

She smiled, "Yes. So I'll see you around noon then?"

Will nodded, and licked his lips, "It's a date." He said softly, hand still on her elbow. He took a final breath and spun away walking toward his office and leaving Mackenzie staring after him, a smile creeping on to her face.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: Things are about to get interesting!_

* * *

They were in London when they first slept together again.

Ever since that weekend in June, which Mac had quietly dubbed their first date, things had shifted.

Will still wouldn't lend a name to whatever their relationship was but he had stopped calling her just his coworker when they were out together. Once or twice a week after work they would go somewhere other than Hang Chews just themselves and they had found more shows and other events to excuse spending time with each other almost every weekend through June and July. There were even a few times when Will had clasped her hand in hers as they walked down the sidewalk or through the park.

The first time she had felt his fingers tug at hers she had looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he had faltered for a step before he firmed his grip and kept walking, muttering "Can't risk having you wandering off."

It was odd but it somehow seemed right for them and Mac was happy. She knew Will was still working through things, at the end of their evenings he would either remain in the car or leave her at the door of her apartment building with a wave and although she had caught him visibly checking her out the hand holding was the extent of any physical contact he had initiated.

Still, she felt confident in the direction they were headed regardless of the ambiguity and lack of labels.

She was particularly excited because thanks to Charlie's intervention it would be Will and News Night and not Elliot and Right Now that would be broadcasting from London as part of the network's Olympics coverage. She and Will would take a select crew to London for two weeks where they would provide supplemental material for the rest of the network shows in addition to the nightly live broadcast.

Work days during the trip were exponentially more hectic than normal, having to balance their extended duties relating to the Olympics with the fact that half of the staff was still back in New York. Coordinating the show required a patch work of conference calls, skype sessions and an obscene amount of google docs and drop box usage.

The workload plus living in one time zone but reporting in another left everyone a little sleep deprived and even Will was getting punchy by the end of their two weeks. The staff in New York got used to being patient when the London crew would get distracted by bickering or sidetracked with irrelevant conversations during their conference calls. However the first time that_ Will _dissolved into near giggles the whole team froze, staring at the speaker phone in complete bewilderment.

Mac had sat back and grinned at that moment. She knew Will would never admit that it was more than just exhaustion that had him susceptible to laughter; he was _happy _and she took extreme pleasure that she was responsible for it.

Despite their crazy schedule Mackenzie and Will had been managing to have a fantastic time in the city. With London being 5 hours ahead of New York and neither of them able to sleep when the sun was up they had barely managed 4 hours of sleep a night but had taken full advantage of the extra daytime hours before work by sightseeing in the city and catching up with Mackenzie's family.

Will and Mac's parents had always gotten along and he had been exchanging emails with her father since not long after she had returned to ACN and both men were pleased to have the opportunity to reconnect in person. Will ended up joining Mackenzie as she met her parents for breakfast or lunch several times during their time in the city.

Their last full day in London was a Saturday and without an evening broadcast to prepare for the McHales insisted on taking Mac and Will out to dinner. When they arrived at the restaurant Colton McHale immediately ordered a bottle of his preferred brandy, pleased that they would finally be able to commemorate the visit with a proper toast.

Over the course of dinner and desserts the quartet polished off most of the bottle, even Barbara McHale had a glass, much to the amusement of everyone else at the table.

It was late evening by the time the elder McHales announced their intention to return home and Colton forced a handful of bills into Will's hand and insisting that the "young Americans" should stay out and enjoy the superior London pub culture while they still could. Will had rolled his eyes and tried to give the money back until Mac told him "Just keep it; we'll use it to buy him a new bottle of something." and they had said their goodbyes to her parents.

Will must have noticed the shadows of tears Mac's eyes as they watched the older couple disappear into a city cab because he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Come on, your dad had a point, let's enjoy tonight. There are less than 24 hours before you have to say good bye to this city. Do you remember that pub where we watched the world cup? Let's head over there."

Mac readily agreed and they quickly found themselves in a boisterous London sports pub where they quickly made friends with the bar tender and the people sitting near them.

Last call seemed to come quickly after several rounds of quality British ale and more than a few shots of some less than quality liquor. Will and Mac waved their farewells to their new friends and began meandering back to the hotel, stopping as they were caught up in memories and laughing at past shared moments. Mackenzie wasn't sure when, but at some point Will had slung his arm around her shoulder and when she looked up his face he was grinning widely.

"What are you so pleased about?" She elbowed him lightly.

"My limited celebrity." He slurred leaning close to her.

She shook her head, "What are you possibly talking about?"

"No one here knows who I am." He straightened and gestured to the other few people on the sidewalks, none paying them any attention, "As long as I stay out of New York or LA I can mostly do what ever I want without worrying about someone with a camera phone." He smirked as if relative anonymity were a great accomplishment.

Mac smirked back at him, "And what exactly would you want to do that you'd be nervous to do in New York?" She tapped at his chest. "Other than being drunk and disorderly sir." She smiled as he stumbled.

Will caught himself and stopped, looking at her seriously. For a moment she worried that she had bothered him with her comment. She opened her mouth to scold him about lightening up when he grabbed her elbow and spun her to him, planting his lips fiercely on her own.

She froze, arms by her side, not entirely processing what was happening.

Even in his inebriated state Will felt her freeze and began to pull back. Mackenzie quickly regained her ability to move and scrambled to return the kiss and keep him from pulling away from her.

He didn't need much encouragement. His lips and tongue were confident and forceful while his hands were uncoordinated which Mac knew was merely a side effect of the alcohol she could taste on him. He backed her against a street lamp and continued his exploration of her mouth while her hands followed their own aimless and graceless movements across his back and up his chest and down his arms.

Finally, breathlessly, they pulled apart, foreheads and noses still touching.

"As lovely as that was and tabloids or not, we should probably refrain from making out like teenagers in the middle of a public street." Mackenzie managed to observe.

Will licked his lips, eyes dark and wholly focused on Mac, "Our hotel rooms are private." He spoke, clearer than he had been previously speaking.

Mackenzie looked up at him with wide eyes. He was about to recant, afraid he pushed too far when she smiled playfully and snuck her hand under the hem of his shirt and stroked the hair on his stomach. "Good thing the hotel is just down that block. Race you there?"

Before he could laugh at her she had pulled away from him, jogging down the sidewalk. When she realized he wasn't following she turned to face him, still slowly moving backward, "Are you just going to stand there? Afraid you can't keep up?"

With that a wicked spark glinted in his eye and he easily jogged to catch up, and grabbing her under her arm threatening to pick her up. "Don't doubt me Mac."

"Never." She shook her hair out of her face and smiled at him. "But don't you dare pick me up, I also don't doubt gravity."

He gave her side a slight pinch and she laughed, spinning away from him and toward the hotel door.

"Come on Billy, catch me if you can..." She called teasingly.

He grasped her hand and they jogged and teased each other down the sidewalk and into the hotel and down the hall until they were against Mackenzie's door, Will's lips again on Mac's while her hands fumbled for her room key.

She pulled away long enough to finally pull it out of her purse and she paused, holding it up to Will, eyebrows raised in silent question. He dropped a quick and chaste kiss to her lips as he took the key from her fingers and and opened the door.

Mackenzie immediately dropped her purse inside of the door and wrapped her arms around Will's neck pulling his lips down to hers and allowing him to manipulate them through the room until they tumbled onto Mackenzie's bed.

When they hit the mattress everything sped up and there was a flurry of uncoordinated hands as they seemed to engage in a race to see who could rid the other of their clothes first with no time for slow seduction.

It was not long before both of their shirts were off and Mac was trying to push Will's jeans down which proved to be a struggle as he was focused on her jeans and her mouth didn't want to leave his skin and her hands kept getting distracted from their cause by threading through his hair or stroking down his bare chest. He pulled away from her as he finally managed to free her legs. He took the opportunity to kick off his own pants and boxers before he dropped back to the bed, capturing Mackenzie's mouth and working his hands down her body.

His fingers found the elastic of her underwear and she shivered as he pushed his fingers under the hem. He pulled back, holding himself over her on his forearms, looking down at her with dilated pupils.

"Kenz?" He asked between heavy breaths.

She swallowed and tried to control her own breathing. She kept her eyes on his as her hands reached up, scratching lightly at his chest and then slowly trailing down his torso until his breath stuttered. One arm came back up, wrapping around his neck and stroking the hair there as she leaned up and whispered into his ear, "Come on William. I'm waiting for you."

* * *

The next morning she woke to the sun streaming through the hotel window and immediately slammed her eyes shut with a groan. She heard a similar groan somewhere above her and that was when she realized she was curled onto someone's chest.

Will's chest.

Will's naked chest.

He was laying on his back and the rise of Mackenzie's hip suddenly felt cold as he removed his hand to rub it roughly across his face.

Right.

So last night had been real.

Very, very real and she was suddenly very very aware of where her hands were and how very very little clothing they both had on.

She pulled her arms in close to herself and took a deep breath to prevent herself from panicking, after all, this wasn't automatically a bad thing; they were adults and they had been headed in this direction anyway.

Or at least she had hoped they had been. But Will still wasn't being clear. Maybe they hadn't been. Maybe the alcohol hadn't just emboldened him as she had assumed, maybe it had just been a loss of inhibitions and for a night he forgot he didn't truly want to be with her. Maybe he would regret everything and this would set them back and disrupt everything they had built over the past 4 months.

She forced herself to remember to breath, he still hadn't said anything yet. Of course neither had she. But what could she say?

"Alcohol should be illegal." He finally moaned, pulling a pillow over his face.

Mackenzie took the opportunity to pull herself back and try to regain some modesty as she created some space between them and covered herself with a blanket.

Will turned his head and blinked blearily at her from under the pillow, "What time is it?" He half mumbled, half whined.

She turned her head, "6:20, did you notice what time we went to sleep?"

Will closed his eyes again and disappeared back into the pillow. "God, no." Came his muffled reply. "We could have been on Mars for all I knew. I wasn't exactly paying attention to details."

Mac made some noise she hoped he interpreted as understanding. He still wasn't giving her any indication of if he regretted what happened. She would count it as a win that he wasn't jumping out of the bed, but if he felt at all the way she did then jumping anywhere was probably not even a physical possibility at the moment.

They lay side by side, silently thinking and willing themselves rid of their hangovers until Will stirred, pulling the pillow from his face. "Okay." He grumbled, slowly sitting up and reaching stiffly for his clothes on the floor.

Pulling on his boxers and polo he turned to finally face Mac, "Uh. Look Mac..."

His words stuttered out as he looked at her and Mackenzie could read the confusion in his eyes. She tried to give him a comforting smile, "It's okay Will." She assured him, proud of how steady she managed to keep her voice.

He released a breath and ran a hand down his face, "Right. Okay. Well, I'm going to go shower."

"You could shower here." She offered.

He gave her a small smile, "It makes just as much sense for me to go my room. It's just across the hall and all my stuff is there. I wouldn't want to be in your way."

Mac nodded meekly, her stomach instantly regretting the movement. "Right. Of course."

Will looked down and sighed. He looked at her one more time, looking as if he had something else to say before reconsidering and tapping the bed before standing and finishing dressing.

Before he left the room he stopped with his hand on the knob, "I'll see you at breakfast?"

His eyes flicked to hers before returning to the floor.

She nodded, "Of course. A little later than normal though if that's okay?"

Will looked up a small but genuine smile on his face, "9?"

"Sounds good. See you then." She agreed, keeping the smile on her face until he had left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Quiet, uncertain glances continued over breakfast and through the day's work. Luckily it seemed as if everyone on the crew had thoroughly "enjoyed" their last night in London with their own late night celebrations so noone else seemed to notice the extra tension in the air.

Mackenzie hardly noticed the closing ceremonies spectacle, she spent the time worrying about what this might mean for them when they go to New York. The past two weeks had been so wonderful and last night had been so natural and fun that she hated for it to become something she came to regret.

It was late that night in the plane somewhere over the North Atlantic when she found some resolution.

She was sleeping against the window when Will poked Mac awake.

She sluggishly picked up her head and blinked slowly at him, "What?" She groused, annoyed at his waking her.

"I don't regret it." He whispered urgently, blue eyes darting around to the other sleeping passengers around them. "I'm sorry that it was...what ever it was but I don't regret it."

Mackenzie nodded slowly, forcing her slumbering mind awake and processing his words, "I don't regret it either."

Will's lips grinned before he forced his face serious, "Good."

She took a deep breath, reading the tension on his face and feeling her heart constrict, "You still don't know how you feel or what you want."

It was a statement, not a question but Will nodded anyway. "I'm sorry."

She looked away, back out the window, "It's okay." She murmured, even though it wasn't.

She felt him shift beside her and she looked back to him, forcing a conciliatory smile on her face, "Maybe you can get us tickets to the Lion King this weekend to make it up to me?"

He smiled a slow hesitant smile that brightened his eyes, "I think I can swing that. I'll see what's available and we can talk about it at lunch tomorrow?"

She nodded her agreement.

His eyes flicked over her face for a moment before he reached out a hand and gently stroked her hair away from her face, "Good. That will be good." He murmured, pulling his hand back he tilted his head, "Try to go back to sleep for now."

Mackenzie nodded, this time resting her head on Will's shoulder and trying to keep the smile off her face when she felt him pull her closer and press a light kiss to her hair.


	6. Chapter 6

As Mackenzie had feared, things did change when they got back to New York.

They still had their daily lunches but Will kept the conversations to a professional focus. They still met up after the show but they spent each night at Hang Chews with the rest of the staff without going elsewhere on their own.

The only thing keeping Mac from loosing hope was that he had followed through with the tickets for the Lion King Saturday evening. With Will's hesitant behavior all week she really wasn't sure what to expect. She certainly hadn't expecting him to great her at her door with flowers.

She stood in her doorway gaping at him.

He smiled at her befuddled expression, "They're flowers Mac. You put them in water?"

"Right. I know. I just...I know." She managed to stammer out taking them from him and inviting him in, "Thank you."

He just shrugged and kept his eyes wandering across what could be seen of her apartment from the entry way. "Nice place." He commented awkwardly.

"That's right, I forgot you haven't actually been in here before." She replied distractedly, her head in the cabinet searching for a suitable vase. "Feel free to take a look around."

She finished situating her new flowers and stepped out of the kitchen to see Will staring at the cork board that held pictures and memorabilia from her time abroad. He noticed her watching him and flicked a picture of her and Jim in combat helmets, "I didn't think Jim could look any more awkward but I guess I never saw him in a helmet."

Mac smile fondly, "That was from our first month there. He grew into it."

"Sure he did." Will snorted in amusement.

Mac tilted her head, thinking back, "He really did you know. It was amazing how much he changed while we were over there."

Will turned to her, eyes serious, "What about you?"

Mac took in a sharp breath, she hadn't been expecting the question. Hadn't even considered it previously. Her eyes fell to the picture Will had indicated and tried to think back to that younger version of herself. Was that Mackenzie different than she was now? She bit at the inside of her cheeks and looked back to Will who was watching her with interest.

She nodded thoughtfully, "I did. I don't think I've really thought about it before but I think I really did."

Will tilted his head and leaned against the arm of the couch, "How?"

She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and looked again to the pictures on the board. "Fear." She answered after a long pause. She glanced back to Will to see him looking at her with a mix of concern and confusion.

She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as she tried to explain, "Jim became more confident...braver, tougher. I think I went the other direction. Confidence had never been a problem of mine. Ever since I was a little girl I've never had any reason to doubt myself or my decisions; I was always smart enough or creative enough or hell, even just privileged enough that no matter what I did everything would end up okay. I never feared anything because I don't think I ever understood what consequences really could be."

She looked at him and could see the beginnings of understanding. She sighed, "And then, about 5 and a half years ago I learned very quickly, what it could mean when you make a bad decision. I think I legitimately didn't understand how it was possible that I couldn't just fix everything, that there was no recourse for us, that I had screwed up so badly and I had to just live with the consequences. It was overwhelming and I didn't know what to do."

"So naturally you went to Afghanistan." Will observed dryly.

She smiled sadly, "No. First I went to Atlanta. They sent me to Afghanistan."

"You volunteered though. That was part of the agreement with CNN from the beginning." He pointed out.

She tilted her head, "How do you know that?"

He shrugged. "I know things."

"Will..." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

He sighed, "You know I know people at CNN."

"You asked them about my contract?" She questioned, absolutely baffled.

He picked at the fabric of the couch, "Only after you were embedded. I wanted to know who sent you over there so I called Nathan."

Mackenzie just stood there looking at him, unsure of what to say. Will looked up and rolled his eyes at her obvious bewilderment, "Of course I asked Mac. You were in a war zone for christsake! I was pissed but that didn't mean I was okay with the thought of you getting shot at! I still cared..." His voice halted and he shook his head, looking down, "I never stopped caring about you."

She went from baffled to stunned in the time it took for him to make his quiet admission. Deep down she knew he always cared but the fact that he actually said it shocked her silent.

Will looked up at her and released a frustrated breath, "Come on now, you were telling a story."

She nodded and swallowed, trying to regain her place and composure, "Right. Well, I was feeling lost but I could still hide from it, tell myself that it was what I wanted, that we wouldn't have worked out, that I wasn't done traveling. If I could stay busy I could bury the pain of loosing you. I made sure traveling was part of my agreement with CNN and they sent me to Asia. I kept Jim awake nearly the whole plane ride over planning different stories we should follow and babbling about how I was hoping the rules they made us agree to wouldn't be strictly followed. I wanted to make sure we weren't denied access to any part of the experience." She paused and looked down, shaking her head at the memory.

"The end of our first week the unit we were with lost a humvee to an ambush. No journalists were with the convoy at the time but suddenly there were 6 guys who didn't come back to base." She bit her lip, remembering the haunted look in the eyes of the men who did come back and the memorial service they held that week.

"Of course you know me and you know Marines, they all wanted to call me princess and I thought the most important thing in the world was proving that I wasn't dainty. So while everyone else allowed themselves to be shaken by the increased violence in the region I just put on my best stubborn attitude and tried to prove my toughness and disregard the new rules they wanted to enforce. I continually went places that we were told were dangerous. That's how the end of our 2nd month I ended up leading a small crew into a Shiite protest."

"In Islamabad." Will offered knowingly.

Mac nodded, eyes unfocused, lost in the memory, "Yeah. And you know what? It wasn't the getting stabbed that really shook me. It was watching Jim and Mark and Terry push through the crowd to try and get me out. I was so thankful none of them were seriously hurt but as bizarre as it sounds I think that might have been the first time in my life that I really realized the impact of the consequences of my actions. Anyone of those guys could have been killed and it would have been my fault for thinking I was proving something. It wasn't brave investigative journalism, it was stupid pride and stubbornness."

Will was watching her with patient, non-judgmental eyes and Mac was suddenly infinitely grateful for the opportunity to explain this to him. "After Islamabad how I viewed things changed; there were so many times I wanted to pursue something but I would stop, actually feeling that nagging 'what-if' feeling in the pit of my stomach. To be unsure of what direction to go and be legitimately fearful of the possible consequences was something I had never experienced before and it unsettled me. You should have seen me when Jim was shot."

"Jim was shot?" Will interrupted in disbelief.

Mac smiled, "It was just a ricochet that grazed his backside. He didn't even need stitches but I nearly had a melt down. He was lying there with a medic putting a bandage on his ass and yelling at me to hang up the phone because I was about to call CNN and get us out of there. I was done. I wanted to get out and not be responsible for hurting anyone ever again."

"But you stayed." Will observed, his voice level.

Mac nodded, "Yes. Jim calmed me down and we stayed. However I did jump at the first opportunity to go to Iraq. It was still a war zone but deep in the green zone you it almost felt safe. It was more secure and we stayed nearly the whole time in the same hotel. Going back to the same place each night was a wonderful stability I didn't realize I wanted."

She bit her lip and let her gaze wander out the window, "I guess that was another way I changed." Her eyes flicked to Will, "I never saw much value in stability before. You know me, growing up we never lived in one place for very long and professionally it was always free lance work and six month contracts before it was on to the next adventure. I thought that staying with one constant meant I was missing out on something else. But over there one of the first questions people would ask was 'Where are you from?' or 'Where do you call home?' and I didn't have an answer. The guys would pass around not just pictures of their families but pictures of their houses and towns and civilian jobs and talk about the tire swing they promised to install for their niece or the color they were going to paint the baby's room. Not having anything to add to those conversations, not having anything to look forward to...it was alienating and even though I was surrounded by some great people, I felt lonelier than I ever had before."

Will didn't move but Mac watched the twitch in his cheek revealing the clenching of his jaw.

She released a slow breath, "That was when I finally felt the consequences of my actions here, of what I did to you. What I did to _us_. I couldn't hide from myself or lie to myself anymore. It was over 2 years later and I was only just then really letting myself feel the pain of what I lost. We came home 6 months later and when someone mentioned that you'd be doing a public forum at Northwestern I booked my ticket to Chicago. I just wanted to see you, see that you were okay."

Will looked down, blinking once slowly before looking back to her, "I wasn't."

Mac bit her lip and shook her head.

Slowly, a small smile appeared on his face, "And you just couldn't help yourself. You and your notepad producing."

She shook her head again, "No."

Will stood and stepped forward until he was standing in front of Mac, he gently pushed back a lock of her hair, "I'm glad."

She blinked quickly and looked up at him, reading his eyes before trying to match his smile, "Yeah?"

He nodded, "Yeah." He didn't move for a long moment, their eyes locked on to one another's. Finally his eyes moved to the clock on the bookshelf and he stepped back, taking a deep breath, "We should get going or we'll miss the show."

* * *

After the play they had dinner at a small restaurant in the garment district. They kept the conversation light and when Will laughed Mac couldn't help but be reminded of their time in London without any of the odd tension from the week. As they walked back to Mackenzie's apartment Will even pulled her in close to his side, wrapping his arm around her. She smiled and let her head fall on to his chest as they walked.

As they neared her building his footsteps slowed and she felt him stiffen, "Will?"

He stopped moving and stepped away slightly so he could look her in the face, "Can I ask you something?"

His jaw was clenched and his voice was hesitant. Mac tilted her head but despite her nerves, she acquiesced, "Of course, anything."

He licked his lips and his eyes scanned the sidewalk before settling back on her face, "This afternoon, when you were talking about how you felt when we broke up you said that you told yourself that we wouldn't have worked out for the long term anyway. Do you really believe that?"

Mac's first inclination was to immediately deny it but something stopped the words in her throat. She pursed her lips and thought back to their conversation and as she analyzed her own words she realized the truth and her shoulders slumped. Will must have been able to read the regret in her body language and his eyes went wide. Without thinking she placed a calming hand on his shoulder as she smiled sadly at him, "At the time it was a lie I told myself to keep from feeling the pain but now that I think about it, back then? No. It probably wouldn't have worked out."

Will blinked but he said nothing and didn't move, seemingly frozen in place.

Mac looked to his chest and back up again, "It was me. Like I said, I didn't have a healthy respect of consequences and I had no desire to settle. Maybe it wouldn't have been Brian but I would have done something thoughtless and hurt you later. Or you would have actually asked me to marry you and it would have freaked me out and we would have ended up having stupid superficial fights and it all would have ended eventually. I wasn't good for you back then Will. It kills me to say this but I think no matter what, I was going to break your heart."

Will looked away and down, barely breathing. They stood there for a long time before he raised his head, again looking at her piercingly, "And now?" He whispered.

Mac bit at the inside of her lip to keep it from trembling. She placed her other hand on his chest and stood so they were facing each other with her one hand on his shoulder and the other over his heart. She swallowed and met his eyes, "Now? Now I know what I want but more importantly I know what it means to lose it and if given the opportunity I will never risk loosing it ever again."

Will's eyes flicked back and forth across her face and his brow furrowed as if he we trying to judge her sincerity. After a long silent moment his hands came up and covered hers.

"I know I've probably been frustrating these past few months. Don't think for a moment that it's because I haven't known what I wanted. I just..." he took a breath and looked somewhere over her shoulder.

Mac looked down sadly, "I know. You can't trust me. I get it."

Will stepped back and let out a frustrated sigh, "That's not what I...I just..." He sighed again and looked up to the sky in clear frustration. He looked down at her again, "Look, last week, what happened in London? I told you I didn't regret it. God Mac, if I could tell you the number of times I've thought about..." He cut himself off in exasperation again. "I think we were getting there, I just needed to be sure and I didn't want it to be like that, you're not just some woman that I drunkenly fall into bed with, you know?"

Mac couldn't help the coy smile curve up her lips, "You've thought about what Billy?"

He rolled his eyes but his shoulders relaxed and he asked, "Do you want to go away with me next weekend?"

Startled, Mackenzie furrowed her brow, "What?"

He licked his lips, "Next weekend. Saturday and Sunday, let's go somewhere. Like Connecticut or the Poconos maybe? We can talk. You know, for real and not on a street corner at 11pm and without subtext and dancing around anything. Maybe we will spend the whole weekend shouting at each other but if not...maybe we can do things right this time around."

Mackenzie blinked. She wasn't sure if "this time around" meant sleeping together or if he meant so much more than that, but either way she wasn't going to deny him. She nodded quickly, struggling to find the words and finally managing to stutter out, "Yes. That sounds...Okay."

He smirked and seemed to relax at her agreement. "Okay then. That's what we're going to do."

Mackenzie couldn't help brilliantly smiling at him and Will let out a slow breath looking at her. "I'm going to leave you here," he gestured to the door of her building, "Because since last Saturday night it's been hard enough to restrain myself at work and with you smiling like that I know my 'wait until next weekend' plan doesn't stand a chance."

His words only made Mackenzie smile wider and she had to laugh to prevent her eyes from tearing.

"Aw, to Hell with it." Will muttered, closing the distance between them with two quick steps and kissing her deftly, his hands on either side of her face.

Her hands dropped to his hips but too soon he was pulling back. His breathing shallow between them, "Okay." He swallowed, stepping back and Mackenzie frowned as her hands lost their contact. He smirked, "I'll see you Monday." He stepped to the curb and flagged down a cab.

"Will!" She shouted as he was about to get in and he paused, looking to her, "I hear Mystic Connecticut is beautiful in August."

He smiled and nodded, "Mystic it is." before disappearing into the cab and down the street.

* * *

They never went to Mystic or anywhere that Saturday because during Friday's broadcast Lance Corporal Herman Valenzuala called and the Genoa story was back.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: So far this story has been told from mostly Mackenzie's perspective. As we cruise through the Fall I decided to go with Will's perspective. I had been planning on only telling their tale for the 6 months between "One Step Too Many" and "Red Team III" but then I realized there are actually 2 months between the beginning and end of Red Team III so I've figured, 'What the heck? Why not do between the scenes up to the Election Night Episodes." So that's what I'm going to do. Sorry for the delay in writing but I hope to actually have a second chapter up within the next couple of hours as well!

Thank you for your continued reading and support!

* * *

Will wasn't sure what they were talking about and more frustratingly, he couldn't tell if it was good news or bad.

"Are we sure it was him?" Mackenzie asked for the third time.

The broadcast had ended Mac and Will had been quietly discussing when Will would be picking her up in the morning when Charlie had burst in with Jim close at his heels and announced that someone named Valenzula had called. The name had meant nothing to Will but he watched as Mackenzie's eyes had gone wide and her jaw dropped.

Charlie glanced to Jim who nodded emphatically, "Yes. Lance Corporal Herman Valenzuela, MARSOC Crew Chief stationed to the same unit as Sweeney."

Mac closed her eyes and walked back until she dropped into the chair situated just inside the door to Will's office.

Charlie shook his head, "I just got off the phone with him. We need you need to talk to him, Mac. He's coming into the studio tomorrow."

Mac opened her eyes and looked over to Will before letting out a defeated sigh and closing her eyes again.

Seeing his precious weekend slipping away Will had enough, "Hold on just one second. Who is this guy and why does anyone need to talk to him? Least of all the executive producer on what should be her day off?"

The other three people in the room look to Will and then locked eyes with each other.

"He still doesn't know?" Charlie asked.

"No, I don't know! And frankly I'm kind of annoyed so if some one could enlighten me..." Will snapped, crossing his arms.

Mac sighed, pressing her palms together and leaning her chin on her thumbs, "It's the story from last winter."

Will narrowed his eyes, "The one that you and Charlie went to Maryland for?"

Charlie nodded, "Yes. And this young man could be very important."

"If he says what we think he could say then we may have to reconsider moving forward with the story and will still need you for the Red Team." Mac explained.

Will nodded slowly, consciously forcing himself not to grind his teeth. "So you're not going to tell me?" He drawled, unable to complete keep his annoyance from seeping into his tone.

Mac pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and shook her head, "We can't."

Will grimaced, "Alright." he grumbled yanking off his tie.

Charlie spared a glance between the two before returning his attention back to Mac. "Okay, so he'll be here 3 pm tomorrow. You're good to handle it?"

She looked back to Will before nodding slowly, "Yes."

Charlie nodded, "Good, If it's what we think it is call me and I'll come in on Sunday and we can go through it and call Jerry together."

Mackenzie eyes were cast down but she picked up her head and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she flashed Charlie an uneasy smile, "Sounds good."

"Good then." Charlie nodded and left the office, followed by Jim.

Will followed them with his eyes before looking to Mackenzie who still sat in the chair by his door looking at the floor.

Will put down the tie and moved around his desk so he could lean against its front, "Jim can't do the interview?"

She shook her head, not looking up, "I'm sorry Will, I'm so sorry. I wish he could. I wish anyone else could."

Will looked straight ahead to his television sets and tightened his lips, his fingers digging into the desk behind him. He forced himself to have a calm, non-accusatory tone, "Look, if this is about this weekend, wanting to get out of it..."

Mac's head shot up, "It's _not_! Will, it absolutely isn't! I have been looking forward to this weekend since the moment you suggested it. I'm not trying to get out of it, I swear!" She stared at him intently until he finally nodded.

"Okay." He swallowed and looked down, "I'm just saying, if it was, that's okay."

"It's not about that at all Will." She insisted again, "It's this goddamn story. This utterly terrible...God!" she upended her folder off her lap, letting it clatter to the floor and lowered her face to her hands.

Will's eyebrows climbed in surprise at the uncharacteristically violent movement and he bent to pick up the portfolio, catching her expression as he did. Any previous doubt about how badly she had wanted this weekend was wiped away as he took in her absolutely stricken expression.

He let out a quiet breath through his nose and gently touched her shoulder and holding out the leather portfolio to her. "It's okay Mackenzie."

She looked up at him, "I don't know Will."

He stood there quietly taking in the distress in her face and the tension in her frame, "The story isn't good, is it?"

She shook her head, "It could be the biggest story any of us ever break but I can't say I wasn't happy to put in a box these past 6 months."

Will's curiosity was definitely piqued but he knew now was not the time to tease her, instead he gently increased the pressure of his hand on her shoulder. "Well it's out now so I guess your only choice is to go at it full force. If it's going to be the biggest story of our careers it better be a grand slam."

Mac looked up to him with a small grin, "Even if it means putting off whatever the hell it was we were going to do this weekend?"

Will swallowed and his eyes wandered, taking in the curve of Mackenzie's neck and the fullness of her lips and the light in her eyes. He gave her shoulder one final squeeze and forced himself to step back. "Yeah, even if it means putting off our weekend." He forced a grin to his face, "Assuming the story is worth it."

Mac relaxed slightly and nodded, "I think it might be. And I don't say that lightly."

"I know." Will smiled back and dropped in to his chair as Mac stood from hers, "I take it you won't be coming out tonight?"

Mac frowned and looked down, "I really should prep for this interview."

Will nodded, "I know."

She smiled but it looked forced, "Okay, well there's a lot I need to refresh myself with, I'm going to get started." She turned to leave the office.

"Make it a good one!" Will called after her and she turned briefly, flashing him an indulgent smile.

When the door thumped closed Will released his breath and scrubbed his hands over his face before leaning forward to pick up a cigarette and lighter. He tried to tell himself that it was a good thing their weekend was postponed, that he wasn't ready, that he had been pushed into suggesting it after what had happened in London. He had been nervous about it all week, worried about what they each might say and playing out the ramifications of each possible outcome.

There wasn't a single possibility, good or bad that didn't terrify him. He knew he loved Mackenzie and he knew he trusted her...at work, but the idea of possibly giving her control over his heart yet again was almost too much.

He closed his eyes as he took in a deep drag from the cigarette. Of course, it's not like she didn't already have control over his heart, she just didn't know how much. Maybe was safer that way.

He remembered the way she was looking at him, the absolute devastation when he suggested she was trying to get out of their plans and the absolute devotion last week when she told him she knew what she wanted and wouldn't risk loosing it again. He had played that scene over and over for himself through the week. As great as the memory made him feel he couldn't help but simultaneously recall the similar words of devotion she would say to him during the time that he would later discover was she had been seeing Brian behind his back. She had seemed sincere back then too.

He stubbed out the cigarette angrily, frustrated at himself for being unable to just let it go.

He knew that this was the problem with postponing the weekend; it gave him too much time to think.

He picked up another cigarette and lit it thoughtlessly. Whatever the hell this story was, it had better be good. He had been joking earlier but it seriously had better be worth it.

Judging by the look on Mac's face, it probably was. She had called it the biggest story of their careers.

Will's curiosity kicked into over drive as he thought about everything he knew about the story. It had started not long after Jerry was in the office. Back around September 11th and everyone was on a drone kick. He had his suspicions for a few weeks before Mac had first told him they were working on something big when she asked him to apologize to the OWS girl. Months later she and Charlie had gone to Bethesda and now a MarSOC Crew Chief was important enough to have Charlie uncharacteristically wide eyed.

He picked up his personal phone and scrolled through the contacts. He knew Mac didn't want him to know because of the Red Team but she also didn't like it when he couldn't sleep and this would bug him until he figured it out. It wouldn't do anyone any harm if he called down to Washington and asked if his friend had any idea about what Lance Corporal Herman Valenzuela might have been involved.


	8. Chapter 8

Over the next week Mackenzie's days became awash with piecing the story together and preparing the final Red Team meeting. She stayed late and when she did leave the office it was to go straight home to work some more. When Jerry came up on Wednesday she asked Will if he minded forgoing their daily lunches for the remainder of the week so she could use the time to work on the story with Jerry.

He acquiesced. After talking to his source he was confident he knew what story they were working on and wanted to be sure she had all the time she needed because she had been right, this was massive and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if they missed a piece.

Still, as he couldn't help feeling some regret as he watched the team meet with her and Jerry in the conference room. Within a span of the week he felt as if they had returned to the past winter when he and Mac barely spoke and when they did she seemed to walk on eggshells around him.

He had been relieved at when they finally reached the Red Team meeting if only because he hoped it meant the distance of the past week would be behind them and he and Mac could get back on track. He forced his personal feelings away as he watched the team present the story for him and debate the merits. He was impressed with their articulation of concern in the face of stark evidence.

But when the choice came to either following Jim and Don's caution or putting his trust in Charlie and Mac's conviction he knew there really wasn't a choice at all.

"I trust Charlie and Mac."

Later he would rue that moment and wonder if he hadn't been as effective as he thought at boxing away his personal feelings for that meeting. That maybe on some subconscious level he had allowed his desire to let Mackenzie know he wasn't going to be an adversary override his gut that something felt off about the story. He could have stopped everything, he was the gate keeper, but he had wanted her to be right so he had stood aside and let Genoa go.

* * *

For the moment all he knew was that he was suddenly on the team again, an integral part of the exciting process of getting the story ready to air. Not that many years ago he wouldn't have minded being excluded from meetings with his staff but now he was grateful to be spending every free moment of his day with Mackenzie and the rest of the staff story boarding, script writing, panel prepping, interviewing and comment mining.

He and Mac stayed late together every evening and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner together in or near the office, frequently joined by other members of the team as they finalized the production.

Sunday afternoon after the final prep meeting and before that evening's broadcast Will called Mac into his office.

"You should be getting changed." she commented before the door closed behind her.

Will gestured to the suit draped on the back of his chair, "That's why I called you in here. I'm about to but I can't decide on a tie."

Mackenzie dropped her shoulders and stared at him in disbelief, "Seriously Will? We are less than an hour from going live with Genoa and you called me away to pick out your _tie_?!"

Will shrugged, "It's an important tie. Other people and other networks are going to be showing clips of this broadcast."

Mackenzie rolled her eyes, "Will. Seriously, first the pants and now ties? You're a grown man, when are you going to learn to dress yourself?"

He smirked, "I can dress myself just fine. It's been weeks since I've had problems with those pants."

"Mhrm." Mackenzie acknowledge placatingly, "Let's not forget the time you were too stoned to remember how to tie your tie."

Will just kept smiling, "Hey! That was a great night."

Mackenzie seemed to still, tilting her head, "Yes, it was." She finally agreed.

Will waited for her inevitable follow up question, confused when she remained silent. His confusion must have been evident because Mackenzie called him on it, "What's that look about?"

"What look?"

"You, you looked confused." She explained patiently.

Will furrowed his brow, "I guess I was just surprised that you allowed a mention of the Bin Laden broadcast without trying to shoehorn in asking me what the message said."

Mackenzie's eyes went wide for a second and then to Will's surprise, they narrowed and her lips turned down in a cross frown. When she spoke it was seemingly with barely concealed anger, "And why would I do that Will?"

Will found himself unsure of how to reply to the unexpected vitriol of her reaction and he held his palms up by his chest as he stammered, "I...you always do...Tangential connections or whatever. You always ask."

Mac crossed her arms tightly across her chest, "What is this? Some kind of demented game Will? It was one thing before but you know what? I have serious work to be doing and even if it was just a normal day, things have changed between us these past months and you can't pull this absolute bullock! Or would you prefer to play your petty games and you and I can just go back to square one?"

Will shook his head in absolute bewilderment, "What are you talking about Mac?"

She stepped closer to him and peered up with a piercing gaze, "I know."

"Know what?" Will was certain Mac had lost it, that the stress of Genoa had pushed her brain to make some insane leaps in logic and come to conclusions that were simply irrational.

She stayed close, looking up at him, "When was the last time I even _mentioned_ the voicemail?"

Will blinked, she mentioned it all the time. The last time was...was...

He couldn't remember.

He remembered that time in her office when had yelled at her when she had gone off about it, was that truly the last time? When was that? He couldn't remember what else they talked about but Jerry had been in the office before him. Jerry was working in the newsroom almost a year ago. That couldn't be possible, could it?

Will's eyes flicked back to Mac's.

_ 'I know'_

Suddenly things began to make sense. He swallowed, his mouth went dry. He wasn't ready to do this, not now and not here and not like this, but he would if he had to; he wouldn't let them fall back to square 1, that would be worse than being forced to confirm what she thought the message to say.

"How?" He finally managed to choke out.

Mackenzie stepped back, the tension escaping her frame and when she spoke her voice was quiet and sad, almost defeated, "Nina told me last September."

Will froze, staring at her for a long moment. He heard what she said but it just didn't make sense, "What?"

"Nina told me. We were on the phone because I was thanking her for killing the story about you and the 10th anniversary. And I asked and she told me. I'm not proud of myself Will, but I assumed it was the only way I'd ever find out. But then she told me and I realized it was all some game to what? Make me think you said something more? Make you feel like you had something over me? I don't get it Will and frankly I don't care but I'm not going to let you start at it again. Not now. Pick your own Goddamn tie." She spun on her heel and reached for the door.

"Mac!"

Will finally found his voice in time to stop her before she managed to leave the room, "It wasn't a game. It was never a game."

Mackenzie slowly turned back to face him, arms still crossed, "Well then I don't get it because it certainly seems cruel."

Will's eyes flicked over her face as his mind racked his brain trying to reconcile everything. Finally he stumbled upon a memory, late last September, Nina approaching him from his bedroom, a guilty look on her face, _"Mackenzie just called...to thank me for killing the piece."_ It had to have been then. He had assumed she looked guilty because she knew the feelings involved; but maybe it was more than that...

Slowly he stepped closer to Mackenzie and put his hands gently on her shoulders, "What did Nina say the message said?"

He could feel Mac set her jaw as she glared at him, trying to understand his question, "Why?"

He readjusted his hands and tried to force as much earnestness into his gaze as he could, "Mac, please, what did she tell you?"

She sighed and looked away at some distant spot beyond Will's shoulder, "She said that you just wanted to tell me I did a great job with the broadcast that night." Her voice was flat and unemotional.

Will couldn't contain the small smirk he felt pushing against his lips, "That's it?"

Mackenzie's eyes pulled themselves back to meet Will's gaze, "Yes. That's it."

Will allowed himself to fully smile and indulged himself with a single rub of her shoulders, "That's not what the message said Mac. I mean it was kind of part of it, I did say that you were spectacular that night, but that wasn't it Mac."

Mackenzie blinked rapidly, not breaking eye contact with him, as if she could see the truth if she just stared hard enough into his eyes. Finally she swallowed and licked her lips before asking, "It's not?"

Will chastised himself for how completely the simple act of licking her lips had captured his attention and forced himself to focus on the conversation at hand, "No. It's not."

She looked down and then back up at him, arms still crossed but the anger dissipating from her frame, "You're still not going to tell me?"

Will took a deep breath and looked past her, considering for a moment before shaking his head, "No, I'm not."

Mac straightened, "Why not? If it's not a game to just mess with me and you're not trying to be cruel, why not?"

Will dropped his hands from her shoulders and shoved them into the front pockets of his jeans. He studied the floor for a long moment until his raised his eyes to lock with hers, "Because despite what I said, I_ was_ just saying it because I was high."

Mackenzie barely reacted other than a slight stiff movement of her chin.

Will cast his eyes around the room, trying to determine how to articulate what he needed to say without saying what he couldn't bring himself to say. "It doesn't make what I said any less true, but I never would have been able to say it had I not been high. And I still can't. Doesn't mean it's not true, but my inhibitions and imagination and everything get in the way. And when I do say it to you I don't want it to be here in the middle of the office when we both have places to be or during some inane phone call when I can't see you."

Mac's arms slowly uncrossed and she dropped her hands to her front playing with her fingers. " 'When you do say it to me'?" She asked, meaningfully, eyebrows arched.

Will shifted his balance and tried his best not to shuffle his feet, "I mean. I suppose so. Like you said things have changed these past months and the thought of telling you what I said in that message is, conceivably, getting easier."

Mac nodded ran a hand up her own arm in a kind of half self-hug. "That's nice to hear."

Will just shrugged, unsure how the conversation had gotten so far diverted from his original intention of letting her tease him about his tie selection.

Mac looked around the room, "Genoa has occupied these last 3 weekends and I'm sure it's going to keep us pretty occupied for at least another two but maybe we should try planning another weekend together and actually go this time?"

Will took a deep breath and tried to remember how he was feeling two weeks ago, the anticipation at finally putting it all out on the table with Mackenzie and either moving forward or not. He nodded "Some time in October then?"

Mackenzie nodded, "That would be nice. Like you said, even if we spend the whole time shouting at each other it will be time well spent. Apparently we have more misunderstandings between us than we thought."

Unbidden Will's mind flashed to the ring locked in the drawer 6 feet away. He pushed away the thought as a confession for another time and nodded, forcing a smile on his face, "Yeah, but I do hope it will be more than just yelling."

Mackenzie smiled, "Me too." She looked down with a soft grin. Suddenly she gasped and twisted her wrist to get a closer look at her watch, "God! The time, I've wasted 10 minutes I don't have arguing with you! I need to..."

"Mac, Mac, Mackenzie!" Will stepped forward placing his hands on her shoulders again, "It's okay. There's nothing you need to do. The packages are set, Tess is doing the final run with graphics, Jim and Maggie are prepping the panelists, Herb is setting the control room, Martin is double checking the script, Neal has the bullet points set and is ready to do the streaming updates. You put together a great team and they're doing their jobs extraordinarily well. There is no reason to panic. It's a big story, yes, but it's a broadcast like any other and you've done a great job making sure these people know how to put on a great broadcast. The only thing you need to really be worried about is your idiot anchor who is seriously contemplating using that polka dotted tie tonight." He used his chin to indicate one of the ties on his desk.

Mackenzie stared at him incredulously before relaxing under his hands, giving a small shake of her head and smiling. Wordlessly she stepped away from him and looked at the ties on the desk. Decisively she picked up a striped one and returned to place it in his hands. "This one."

Will looked at it as if he were studying it closely, "You sure?"

She smiled, "As sure as I can be."

He smirked in response and draped the fabric around the back of his neck, "Well, that's good enough for me."

"You're going to be able to tie that, right?" She teased.

He raised his eyebrows, "Would you tie it for me if I couldn't?"

She smiled at his flirtation but shook her head, "Nope. I'd let you go on tieless."

Will rolled his eyes, "Well then I hope I can manage to figure it out."

Mackenzie bit her lip then seemingly coming to some kind of decision, glanced over her shoulder to bustling newsroom where no one was paying them any attention. She turned back to Will and placing her hands on his shoulders she pushed herself up just enough to place a soft, lingering kiss on his cheek, just to the side of his mouth.

When she dropped back Will was staring at her with wide eyes.

"For luck." She explained matter of factly, as if giving good luck kisses in the middle of the office was a common occurrence.

Dumbfounded, Will managed to shake his head slowly, "I don't need luck. I have the best EP in the business."

Mackenzie smiled coyly, "I wasn't talking about the broadcast, I was talking about tying your tie."

Will couldn't help it, he let out a bark of laughter loud enough that those with the desks closest to his office turned their heads, attention caught by the unusual sound.

Mackenzie blushed and pointed to the door, "Okay, I really am going to get back to work now."

Will nodded, still smiling widely "Okay. Thank you for the tie. And the, you know, luck."

She smiled and turned away, but paused, her hand on the door handle. She looked at him over her shoulder, "You're sure you don't want to tell me what the message said now?"

Will smiled, "No. I'm not sure. But I'm not going to."

Mackenzie rolled her eyes but her smile brightened, "You did call me spectacular that night?"

Will's smile slowly disappeared and he nodded his head solemnly, "I did. You are. And you know what?"

"What?" Mackenzie asked, countenance shifting to match Will's sudden serious demeanor.

"You're going to be spectacular tonight too. I don't think I told you before but this whole story is amazing and it's all because of you. You really should be proud."

Mackenzie blushed and flashed him a tepid smile, "Okay. Well, thank you. Now that the pressure's on I'm just going to go now and try and cram a week's worth of double checking into 20 minutes."

"Of course you are." Will smiled and collected the pieces of his suit. As he changed he reflected on their conversation and if he would ever actually be able to recount the contents of the voicemail message to her. Of course she knew what it said, he all but out right confirmed it, but actually saying it would have a whole set of heavy consequences.

She was right, after Genoa had stopped occupying every moment they needed to really take the time to hash it all out. He was still afraid but everything in his life was going so well, what was the point of feeling this good if you went home alone at night? He watched himself in the mirror as he flipped his tie into its knot and vowed that he was going to make an effort; he would face his fears and allow his personal life to be as solid and good as his professional life. He smiled at himself in the mirror and felt the comfort of the resolution and he knew it was all going to work out.

.

.

.

48 hours later it had all fallen apart and everything had gone to Hell.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a horrid month and a half.

He should have known what was about to happen the moment she walked into the office. He had been too wrapped up in the possible implications regarding what Don was saying about Benghazi to notice her tightly wrapped arms, trembling jaw or the moisture in her eyes she had been trying to blink away.

When he did notice, his stomach sank; he had seen that look before, nearly 6 years ago when she felt the need to confess her sin to him. The memory almost caused him to hold back his question but the sight of her in near tears was enough to pull her name from his lips. And then she had said it, what he feared she was going to say and all he could think was that everything was over. This was _it_, the end. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him and he lost his ability to stand.

As he leaned against his desk he could feel the attention of the staff move from Mac to him; waiting for a reaction, for an answer, for anything.

Without looking up from the floor he finally managed to ask, "Why?"

He could see her feet shifting, "I didn't catch it."

His head snapped up and his eyes drilled into hers, "What Mac? What didn't you catch?" He tried to keep his voice controlled but was aware his panic could be heard, laced in his tone.

She looked down, breaking his eye contact, "The shot clock."

At that Will shook his head, "Mac?"

She took a quick gulp of air and looked back at him, "I didn't catch the shot clock on the basketball game. The Stomtonovich interview. Jerry cut the raw footage. The general didn't say 'We used Sarin.' He said something else around it and Jerry cut it out. You can see the shot clock jump from 19 to 3 to 2 to 14. He edited the raw footage. What we aired was fabricated."

Jerry.

Will was torn between his disbelief, frustration at himself for not trusting his gut about Jerry but mostly blinding anger.

"Where is he?" he ground out, eyes scanning the room, landing back on Mac who was shaking her head.

"Gone." She rolled her lip into her mouth and shifted her arms across her torso. "I ran into him in the elevator. I couldn't help it, I confronted him and he confirmed what he did before saying he was going to talk to a lawyer. I fired him. He's likely to have left the building by now. Gone."

Will clenched his jaw, "I wish you hadn't done that."

Mac just shrugged and let out a small sound that sounded like a whimper.

He had taken a deep breath and forced himself to get a grip and think rationally. They were still surrounded by the staff and he still needed to be on air in 30 minutes. No exploding yet. That could be saved for after Charlie tossed his ass out on the street.

He took another deep breath and looked to the staff around the room, "Okay. Everyone, you've done great work over the past few years. Now's the time when your mettle gets tested. It's going to get rocky for a while. Everyone needs to buckle in and buckle down for each other. I don't know what is going to happen down the road but I do know for right now we still need to put on a show tonight."  
He looked to his left, "Jim, Don, work together. In 30 minutes we're leading off with the retraction. Mac and I need to go talk to Charlie before we go on air so I need you two to put together a script outline and any packages for it. Probably 5-7 minutes. Get the rest of the team to nail down the rest of the show. Leave the rest of the timing to Herb."

"What about Benghazi?" Jim asked.

Will looked down and licked his lips before shaking his head, "Nothing risky tonight. Stick with the public talking points. If we have something from state we can look into it later. Just, play it safe for now."

With that he had guided Mac out of the room and up to Charlie's office.

The older man had been stricken but refused immediately when both Mac and Will suggested resigning.

Offering her resignation was the last time Will heard Mac speak that night. She sat silent, hands clasped in her lap through the rest of the meeting as Charlie explained what he had learned during his trip to meet his source that afternoon. She was silent on the headset throughout the duration of the broadcast, not even offering her standard, "Ready Will?" as the roll in started and she was gone from the office by the time Will had changed. On his way home and through out the night he called her a half dozen times and each call was diverted to voicemail.

After no sleep that night he arrived to the office early the next morning and continuously checked the clock and the door for Mackenzie's arrival. As her typical arrival time came and went he called her phone only to have it go again straight to voicemail.

He had just decided to go to her apartment when he saw her pass by his door. He wasted no time following her into her office without knocking.

"You haven't been answering my calls." He stated without preamble.

"I didn't feel like talking Will." Her voice was cold and distant and she kept her eyes focused on hanging up her coat and situating her things under her desk.

He released a breath and focused on pushing aside the anger that had built up as he worried about her. "We wouldn't have needed to talk. I just was worried, wanted to know if you were okay."

Mac let out a huff, "Unlike some people I don't have a history of over dosing on anti-depressants. I'm experienced at massive fuck ups and haven't stopped breathing yet so maybe I'm not the one anybody needs to be worried about."

Will stared at her, blinking slowly and at a complete loss as to how to deal with this sharp and defensive Mackenzie.

He looked out of the room and back at her slumped shoulders and tired eyes. He decided to try another angle, "I was thinking..."

"There's a shock." muttered Mac.

Will grimaced but ignored her, moving on, "We talked about shot clocks after the broadcast Sunday night. You couldn't have caught it before hand because you didn't even know what it was. If anyone should have noticed it, it should have been me, not you."

Mac rolled her eyes, "I know enough to know there is no circumstance in which a count down would go 19-3-2-14."

Will shifted and clenched his hands in his pockets. Mackenzie looked straight at him and sighed, a ghost of a smile on her face, "Look, I appreciate whatever it is you're trying to do but let's just not? Okay? It will only make it harder."

He tilted his head and looked at her, puzzled, "What are you talking about?"

"It was my fault." She crossed her arms at his snort. "It _was_ Will. And at some point Charlie is going to stop thinking with his heart or Leona is going to intervene or you're going to realize I've completely destroyed everything we've built these past few years and it won't be long before one of you will either accept my resignation or fire me. It will be a whole lot less painful if we just don't bother with this stupid game now."

Stupid game?

Will froze, what the hell was that supposed to mean? What stupid game? The one where he cared about her and wanted to prevent her from beating herself up over something that wasn't her fault? Was she _really_ accusing him of playing games with her _again_?

He ground his teeth and glared at her, "No games, Mac."

She seemed to dismiss the gravity and hurt in his tone as she popped her eyebrows with a little shrug, "Whatever. I have a pitch meeting. You coming?"

Will shook his head, "Charlie and I are meeting with Reese and some other people from corporate."

Mac nodded listlessly before turning silently out the door and leaving Will stymied and alone in her office.

* * *

That was how it was and how it continued.

That night and all subsequent nights she didn't go out after the broadcast and she never picked up his phone calls regardless of the time. One night he even tried calling from Sloan's phone until the other anchor caught him and admitted Mac hadn't been picking up for her either.

Anytime she wasn't required in a meeting or in the control room Mackezie was locked alone in her office. Their lunches together fell by the wayside as Mac claimed each day to have already eaten or that she had nothing to say or just outright refusing to go with him.

She shut him out each time Will tried to reach out and she would just roll her eyes each time he tried to give her a compliment or say something nice. He even tried giving Jim Broadway tickets to use to at least make sure she was leaving her apartment on weekends but the younger man who had been by her side through 2 years in a war zone admitted that she was shutting him out too.

For 6 weeks Mackenzie closed into herself, going entire days not saying a single word to Will and not much more than that to the rest of the staff.

For those same 6 weeks Will found himself constantly wavering between concern and anger and hurt.

He couldn't understand how this could have happened; how everything could go from so close to perfect to so fucked up so fast and he wasn't sure what he had done to deserve it. The best he could figure was that the universe had a life long vendetta against him, only letting him have a taste at happiness right before it was going to be ripped away from him.

The show went from the highest audience in the history of cable news to scrapping along the bottom of the polls. He was made a mockery of on the other networks and across the print media; respected papers and rags alike. His sources and friends in Washington stopped accepting his calls, one senator even advising him to "Stay off my call sheet until you're not so toxic." And worst of all he had apparently lost his best friend. Mackenzie went from flirting over a tie and stealing a kiss in his office to not letting him even talk to her. It was like losing her all over again but this time without the protection his anger had afforded his heart the first time around.

He wanted to pull into himself like he did last time, wrap himself in a defensive cocoon and not let anyone in, but he couldn't do that. The rest of the staff was just as upset; some of them had been working on the story for more than 10 months before Will was finally brought on board and their confidence was severely shaken. And with Mac, their leader, struggling, he was the only one left to make sure everyone didn't fall to pieces and he figured if Mac wouldn't let him take care of her directly he could at least do this for her. He could try and make sure the people she cared so much about were okay.

He met Don for drinks and created journalism blues songs with Jim. He kept an open door and listened to Neal's ideas and made sure Maggie was told when she did something well. Having gotten used to sharing lunch with someone he began inviting random members of the team until an unofficial rotating schedule of one on one lunch meetings developed among the associate producers and other mid-level staff. Slowly the team seemed to be stabilizing and although the pitch meetings stayed rather tame the room at least buzzed with an energy that had been missing in those first days when everyone had been walking around shouldering their own skewed sense of blame.

Charlie was still on edge, ironically drinking less as the numbers dropped and public pressure rose. He was still adamant about not accepting any resignation citing that he was just as involved in the story as Mac was and he wasn't going to allow the fact that he was hoodwinked by some Peabody hungry punk take down his 45 years in journalism. But when Mac would leave Will could see the doubt in Charlie's eyes and couldn't seem to find the words to help his mentor so he would sit with him for long hours after the broadcasts, listening and debating about the state of their new reality.

Will was thankful for the late nights because while he was at work and with people he could focus on them but when he got home, alone, all he could do was focus on all that he had lost. He could barely stand it and the bottle of antidepressants called to him from his cabinet each morning but he refused to let Mac be right about that and he didn't take a single pill, finally flushing the whole bottle away.

* * *

Things got particularly bad the end of October. Reese stopped by Charlie's office one night with a courier envelope in his hand.

"Good. You're here for this too." He had scoffed at Will as he dropped the envelope on Charlie's desk.

Will lifted his chin to try and see what it was as Charlie opened it and looked up sharply, raising his eyebrows to Reese.

"Yup." Reese confirmed, dropping dejectedly into the chair next to Will and loosening his tie. "Your pal Jerry Dantana is suing AWM for wrongful termination."

"What?" Will sat up straight and reached across the desk to grab the document's top sheet.

"Institutional Failure." Reese recited from memory, looking up at the ceiling. "That is the first draft of the complaint his lawyers have so kindly prepared for us."

Will flipped through the file not reading but skimming and catching enough partial phrases to understand what was happening. "It's a fucking ransom note."

Reese nodded, "Yup. Even gave us a deadline. They're going to file with the county clerk on November 7th. If we settle before hand the complaint and all of its contents will never see the light of day."

Charlie flicked his eyes to Will and back to Reese, "Has your mother seen this?"

Reese nodded, "Yeah, they were kind enough to send her her own copy." He sneered. "She's on the phone with Rebecca Halliday now. We can't use in house legal for this. She has Lowell-Taylor on personal retainer so she's trying to talk Rebecca into taking the case short notice."

Will kept his eyes on the papers in front of him, "Depositions first?"

Reese shrugged, "We need to decide if it's a case worth fighting. Can't know that until the lawyers have had a look at all the details."

Will sighed. He had been hoping the whole story would eventually fade away. Although still withdrawn Mackenzie had seemed to be more engaged with the staff during pitch and rundown meetings in the past week but this could just bring everything back to where they started.

"Fuck Dantana." He muttered under his breath.

"My sentiments exactly." Agreed Reese, standing from his chair and moving to the door. "Although I'm not entirely past _'Fuck You'_ as well. Get set because if she agrees to it my mother hopes to have Rebecca and her team in here starting the next week."

Will spent the weekend reading through the complaint and pulling out books he hadn't looked at since law school. The more he read and the more he played it out the more the foreboding feeling in his gut grew.


	10. Chapter 10

Monday had been a difficult day; first they had to tell everyone about Jerry's lawsuit and that lawyers would be coming in on Wednesday to depose many of the staff.

The day was made even more difficult by Superstorm Sandy barreling up the East Coast and threatening to drown most of Manhattan. Regardless of what was occurring around them the news still had to go on but by early afternoon Will and Mac were sending home all staff that weren't absolutely critical for the broadcast.

The remaining skeleton crew had to balance everyone's workload and put on a quality broadcast despite the storm raging outside and by the time the broadcast was over Will was exhausted.

He finished changing and surveyed who was left in the already darkened room. "Jim? How are you getting home?"

Jim looked up from where he was shuffling some papers into a bag and then gestured to the control room, "I have a ride with Herb."

"Good." Will continued scanning the rest of the room, "Everyone else gone?"

Jim nodded, "Yeah, most took off as soon as we started the broadcast. Mac is the only one left."

Before Will could reply Herb entered, "Ready to go?"

Jim flipped on his jacket, "Yeah."

"Be safe guys." Will waved after them.

"You too."

Will watched them leave and then turned to where the light was still on in Mackenzie's office. He peered in the door to see her not prepared to leave at all, instead surrounded by papers and notebooks.

He stepped around the glass wall and leaned on the door jam, "Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?"

Mac looked up at him, startled, "What are you still doing here?"

He shrugged, "I was checking to make sure everyone had a safe way home. What are _you_ still doing here?"

She released a heavy sigh and gestured to the papers around her, "I'm being deposed on Wednesday. I'm refamiliarizing myself with the details."

Will narrowed his eyes, "You _are_ aware that just outside your window New York is being beat to a pulp by Mother Nature?"

"Hence the not choosing to do my work on the terrace this evening." She retorted sarcastically.

Will sighed and looked to the ceiling. "How long do you plan on staying?"

She shrugged indifferently, "Until I'm done."

"And then what?"

She looked at him with an unmasked air of annoyance, "Then I'll go home."

"How? The taxis have stopped running." He pointed out.

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she shrugged and returned her attention to the papers in front of her, "I live less than a mile from here. I'll walk."

Will shook his head in disbelief, "In this weather?! Mac be serious!"

"It's just a storm Will!" She snapped back.

"A storm with high speed winds carrying debris and flash flooding!"

She sighed in exasperation and crossed her arms, "And what would you like me to do about that? Would you prefer I just stayed here for the next two days?"

Will bit on the inside of his lip, refraining from releasing a short tempered retort, "How about you let me give you a ride home? My car service is going to be here in 8 minutes. That's plenty of time for you to pack all this up so you can go through it in the comfort of your own home."

Mac rolled her eyes, "I don't need you coddling me."

Will snapped and he slapped the glass door, "DAMNIT MAC! I'm _not_! I just want to make sure you get home safely. Same as everyone else who works on this show. Now, stop playing a fucking martyr and let me for once offer a helping hand without you biting it off!"

Mac just stared blankly at him before silently nodding and beginning to gather her things.

Satisfied but not happy Will turned to leave, mumbling, "I'll get my stuff and meet you in the elevator lobby."

She said nothing when she met him in the lobby and followed him to the waiting car. No words were exchanged until he offered a half hearted "Good night." as they stopped in front of her building.

He was caught up with his own thoughts and at first he didn't notice that when the car stopped again that they were still more than a block from his building.

"What's going on Marshall?" He asked the driver.

Marshall turned in his seat, "I'm sorry Mr. McAvoy, the road is flooded, I can't get any further."

Will sighed and leaned forward to peer out the windshield. Sure enough there was about a foot of water where the road dipped ahead.

"Do you want me to drive you to a hotel?" the young driver asked.

Will shook his head, "No, I don't have anything with me. I'll just walk the rest of the way, it doesn't look deep on the sidewalk."

After assuring Marshall and sending the car off Will walked the remaining block and a half to his front door. The flooding seemed relatively confined but the water was _cold_ and in some spots rose above his knees. Thankfully it was shallower around his building's door and the few sandbags appeared to have kept the lobby dry.

However, Will let out a groan when he noticed the lack of light. He looked to the young man standing by the door, "Don't tell me..."

"I'm sorry Mr. McAvoy. The electricity has been out since early afternoon."

Will sighed and hung his head, "I assume that includes the elevator?"

"Yes sir." Manny nodded, "I've unlocked the rear stairwell though."

Will nodded dejectedly and slowly made his way up the 27 flights to his apartment. By the time he entered through the small back door he was exhausted and cold and his knee was killing him.

He quickly changed out of his wet jeans and into sweats but he was still freezing. No power meant no heated water for a hot shower and if the electricity had been out since the afternoon than that meant the apartment had been without heat for the better part of 10 hours. Will put on his thickest socks and a wool cap but he still felt chilled down to his bones even after trying to bury himself in bed.

It only got colder as the minutes ticked by and after shivering miserably for nearly an hour Will finally gave up, reaching out he grabbed his phone to try and find a hotel room.

20 minutes later he had succeeded in nothing but draining most of the remaining battery power in his phone; the hotels were either closed or booked solid. Sitting on the edge of his bed he glanced at the clock, it wasn't even midnight yet.

He sighed, it was less than ideal but he knew ACN still had power which meant it still had heat and if he had a better chance of sleeping on a warm office couch than in his freezing bed. Plus he could shower there.

He packed a bag in case the power was out long term and called his car service while changing back into a pair of jeans.

"I'm sorry Mr. McAvoy, we've sent all the drivers home." The dispatcher explained, "You were the last pick up scheduled, we weren't even supposed to be on the streets that late. The weather is just too bad."

Will scrubbed his hands over his face, "It's okay. I understand. Thank you for having Marshall stick around earlier this evening."

He hung up the phone and stared at his packed bag before looking out the window. The violent gusts of the storm were seeming to calm down and the office was just over 3 miles away; he could walk that before 1 am and still get some decent sleep.

Before he could change his mind he shouldered the bag and descended the 27 floors back to the lobby and outside.

* * *

Almost an hour later he was soaked and freezing and trudging slowly up the abandoned sidewalk. If he hadn't felt so wretched he might have been in awe at the absolute abandonment of the city that never sleeps but he was too wrapped in his own pitiable state. The tall buildings created a wind tunnel effect and the rain stung at his face and the wind pushed against him. Additionally the cumulative 54 flights of stairs combined with the cold and the wet to cause his knee to act up more than normal and he was disgusted with himself when he actually begun limping, slowing his progress even more.

As he continued against the weather his thoughts flashed back to the past month and inwardly he cursed God and the universe until each step he took was matched with an internal blaspheme.

Before long his thoughts turned more terrestrial and he cursed Jerry Dantana for being an immoral douche and Eric Sweeney for lying, and the Taliban fighters who blew up Sweeney's jeep giving him a TBI, and Herman Valenzuala for lying to protect his friend, and Charlie's source for being a jackass, General Stomtonovich for misleading Charlie and Mac and Mac for making herself miserable and pulling away and taking the blame and not answering his phone calls and not letting him drive her home and still wearing that perfume that drove him nuts and that blouse that made her eyes shine and those skirts and heels that did crazy things to her legs and caused his imagination to run wild.

Damn her for being so intelligent and quick but sitting silent all month because she felt _guilty_, damn her for loosing her confidence,damn her for being the best EP in the business but trying to constantly resign. Damn her for pulling together the best group of young journalists around and then abandoning her post as team leader, leaving him to do the job. Damn her for trying to leave and becoming so withdrawn it was almost as if she already had.

Damn her.

About the time he was working up an internal rant he realized he was approaching her block. He honestly had no intention of going to her place, but it was on the way to the office. Somewhere in his mind it registered that if he was only at her building now, that meant it was another mile to the office and he was cold and wet and tired and his knee hurt and most of all he was pissed.

Gratefully registering the lights on in the building he pushed the buzzer before he could convince himself to just keep walking. When she didn't answer he pushed it again and again, not caring if he was waking her up, he was pissed at how she had been behaving and he couldn't turn back time and he couldn't stop the lawsuit and he couldn't control the weather but he sure as hell could try to fix Mac.

"Who the..." Her voice finally came over the speaker. Will cut her off, "It's me, let me up."

"Will?"

"Just let me up Mac."

There was a long pause of static before he heard the buzz of the door and he closed his eyes in gratitude as he escaped into the blessed warmth of the lobby.

A short elevator ride later he was heading down the hall toward her door. She was waiting for him in slim flannel pants and a tank top, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed and annoyed look on her face.

Her body language slowly changed as she watched him limp toward her; she stood straight and her arms dropped to her sides and for the first time in over a month and a half the name, "Billy..." fell from her lips.

It was enough to make Will stop in his tracks and look at her. Seeing the look of absolute concern on her face was enough for him to loose hold of the anger that had been driving him for the last 20 minutes. The wind went out of his sails and his shoulders slumped.

She disappeared from the doorway and reappeared a moment later with a large terry towel she immediately placed around his neck as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the apartment and shut the door.

"Okay, give me this and take off your shoes." She ordered, grabbing his bag from his shoulder and starting on his jacket before he had the chance to say a word.

It was just as well because as his anger abandoned him so did any sense of what he was going to say. He decided to just do as she instructed for now as he toed off his sodden sneakers and joined Mac in divesting himself of his jacket. She took it from him and hung it up as he rubbed at his hair with the towel. When he pulled it away from his face it was to find Mac standing not two feet away, lower lip between her teeth. Her hands began to reach out to him before stalling and pulling back until her arms were wrapped around herself.

"God, you're shaking...you're freezing Will! What the hell happened? Why are you here? Why were you out _there_? Why are you limping? What happened to your leg? Are you okay? Did you get mugged? Do you want me to call the police? God, do you think they'll even come in this weather? I should still call..."

"Mac!" Will interrupted her rambling and she stopped, looking up at him with wide worried eyes.

He couldn't help himself from smiling. He was cold, wet, cranky and in pain but for the first time in far too long he was seeing human emotion on Mackenzie's face and was given a spot of hope that maybe all was not lost.

"I wasn't mugged Mac." He assured in a calm, steady voice, "My knee just stiffened up. There's no power in my building, I couldn't find a hotel room and the state of emergency order is still keeping the cars off the streets so I was walking back to ACN for the night. I got distracted when I realized I was near your place and I thought you might take pity me and save me from having to keep going. I'm sorry for freaking you out."

She blinked at him. "You were _walking_ from your place to ACN?"

He gave an innocent shrug.

She shifted her arms so they were crossed in front of her chest, and the warmth he had seen in her eyes a moment ago hardened, "Need I remind you how not more than 4 hours ago you lectured me about walking from ACN to here? A distance _significantly_ less than the little stroll you just took."

Will rolled his eyes, "I know, and I get it but you were just being stubborn, I had no choice!"

Mackenzie shook head in clear annoyance and bit at the inside of her cheek. "Go take a warm shower and get into dry clothes. We can't have you catching pneumonia." She waved a hand in the general direction of the bathroom and turned to her living room without looking back.

Will sighed and watched her go before peeling off his wet socks and wordlessly moving to the bathroom.

* * *

Pulling on his dry sweatpants and sweatshirt Will finally felt human again. Mackenzie's apartment was warm enough he didn't bother with socks and he went in search of his reluctant hostess, finding her on the couch, coffee table covered with the notebooks and papers she had packed up from her office earlier that evening.

He paused before deciding the best bet was to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the table. Mac flicked her eyes up at him and silently gestured, directing his attention to the small corner table. There was an ace bandage, a glass of water and a bottle of ibuprofen, a heating pad and a mug of hot cocoa.

He stared at it for a moment before looking back to her, "This is for me?"

She looked back up to him, "No it's for the other bloody moron who walked 2 miles through flood and hurricane with a busted knee."

Will shifted where he sat and looked away, "Well, thank you."

"Your welcome." She mumbled without looking up.

Will took the pills and wrapped his knee, closing his eyes in relief as he placed the heating pad on the aching joint.

"You look exhausted." Mackenzie's voice pulled his eyes open to see her watching him.

"So do you." He replied steadily.

She ignored him, "You should go to sleep. I don't have a spare room but you can take the bed."

"And where will you be sleeping?" Will tried to keep his voice neutral.

She gestured around herself, "Out here. I end up falling asleep on the couch half the time anyway and most likely would have tonight regardless if you had come over."

He raised his eyebrows, "I'm not going to kick you out of your own bed Mac."

She shrugged, "Seriously, it's fine. You look like you're ready to fall asleep sitting up and I know I'm going to be up looking through all this for at least another couple of hours."

He leaned forward to try and see some of what she was looking through, "Why? Your deposition isn't until Wednesday after the show. It shouldn't keep you from sleeping tonight."

She shook her head, "There is a lot here, Will! I was the one who sent Jim to New Hampshire, approved the drone panel, approved Cyrus West and then I was the first person Jerry told, I gave him the go ahead to get started, I went with him to meet Sweeney the first time, I authorized bringing other staff members in on the story, and that was all last September alone. There is so much here and nothing I did was inconsequential. I can't let a single detail slip!"

Will relaxed back into his chair, "Mac, it's not that important to drive yourself to your wits end."

She looked at him in disbelief, "Did you even _read_ the complaint?"

"Yes I read it." He nodded, "But denying yourself sleep is going to do nothing to prevent them from filing."

Mackenzie returned her attention to her notes. "I didn't invite you in because I wanted a lecture."

Will tilted his head and crossed his arms, "I'm not trying to lecture you. I'm just trying to point out that you can prep all you want for this deposition, which is really meaningless, but we still have a show to run and you're not going to be able to do a good job of that for long if you don't get some sleep."

"Well I haven't exactly been doing a great job to begin with so no problems there." She mumbled.

"Mac..." He sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face.

"No, Will." She looked up again, conviction in her eyes, "I know what I did and you need to stop whatever you've been trying to do and admit it too. I'm radioactive. Nothing is going to get better for you or anyone as long as I'm here. Some needs to fire me, convince Leona to settle with Dantana and then move on with the show!"

"No." Will set his jaw and stared her down.

She looked at him and rolled her eyes as she leaned back on the couch, "You say that but..."

"Mackenzie," He cut her off, and leaned forward again, demanding her attention,

"Listen to me closely, I'm saying No. I'm not going to do this show without you. If it comes down to Leona firing anyone you're not going alone. You got that? **_I_ **approved airing the show,**_ I_** didn't catch the shot clock, _**I**_ didn't trust Dantana but _**I**_ didn't spare the time to question what he did. These past few months you've seemed to have forgotten that we're partners in this thing and I'm not going to take it any more. Leona would not have brought in Lowell-Taylor if she wanted to settle, we're going to make a go of fighting this prick and that means we need you to stop self-flagellating and making Dantana's case for him."

She stared at him for a long time as he tried to decipher the emotions flickering through her eyes, refusing to be the one to break eye contact first. Finally she broke and looked away. "You should go to bed."

He sighed, "I'm not taking your bed and leaving you to continue worrying yourself ragged."

"Well, I've still got work to do and you've been dead on your feet since before we even left the office so it's either go to bed or fall asleep where you're sitting and I think your knee would prefer the former." She looked pointedly where the heating pad still rested on his outstretched leg.

Will sighed, as much as he was loathe to admit it, she was right, he was tired and continuing to fight with her would just be fruitless as the depth of his frustration seemed to be no match for the depth of her guilt. That didn't mean he was willing to capitulate, he just needed to get some sleep without letting her think he'd given up.

He slowly smiled when he struck upon an idea, "There is a third option."

Mac looked over to him with arched eyebrows, "And what would that be?"

"I can sleep on the couch." He replied triumphantly as he stood and moved over to where she was sitting.

She looked at him in clear exasperation, "I told you I'm okay sleeping here and I'm not stopping working."

Will shrugged as he situated some throw pillows at the other end of the couch and began to lie down, forcing his outstretched legs into the non-existent space between Mac and the sofa cushion. "I don't care where you sleep or if you keep working but you can't force me into your bed. Unless you want a cranky anchor with a sore knee tomorrow then I would scoot over or something because you're sitting where my legs need to go."

If looks could kill he would have been dead at that moment but again for a fraction of a second he caught something warm and familiar in her eyes as she looked at him. It was gone in a moment and she slammed shut the notebook in front of her and moved from her place on the sofa, leaving him the space.

"You're an ass." She muttered as she stood, arranging the strewn documents into piles.

"So you've told me many, many times." He smiled innocently back.

She shook her head and grabbed her notebook, "I'll be reading in my room if you need anything."

"Goodnight!" He called after her in mock cheer.

He watched her stalk away before closing his eyes. He knew he would still be sore tomorrow but thankfully Mackenzie's couch was long and comfortable and it wasn't long before his tired body pulled him into a deep sleep despite the tumult in his mind and in his heart.


End file.
